"As soon as the heat came back and we were able to have one or two lights running, it was like a complete flip in attitude."Īfter driving to a relative's home to store food, Rinker, 27, compared the destruction of trees to tornado damage. "We were all surviving, but spirits were low on the second day," she said. In Kalamazoo, Michigan, Allison Rinker was using a borrowed generator to keep her 150-year-old house warm Saturday after two nights in the cold and dark. She said the group will demand that utilities reimburse residents for the cost to purchase generators or replace spoiled groceries. "People are huddling under blankets for warmth." "People are not just angry but struggling," said Em Perry, environmental justice director for Michigan United, a group that advocates for economic and racial justice. Both said they hope to have the lights back on for most of their customers by Sunday night.īrian Wheeler, a spokesman for Consumers Energy, said half an inch (1.27 centimetres) of ice weighed down some power lines - equivalent to the weight of a baby grand piano. More than 350,000 customers were without power in Michigan as of early Saturday afternoon, according to reports from the the two main utilities in the state, DTE and Consumers Energy. Meanwhile, people farther east were struggling to deal with the fallout from storms earlier this week. "It's miserable when you're outside in the elements," he said. He said this winter has been wetter than usual. Lightning strikes shut down LA County beaches and scattered bursts of snow, showers and thunderstorms persisted.ĭerek Maiden, 57, who lives in a tent in LA's Echo Park neighbourhood, collected cans in the rain to take to a recycling centre. The storm, fueled by low pressure rotating off the coast, did not depart quietly. No one was hurt, KCAL-TV reported, but one resident described the scene as devastating. In the Valencia area of north Los Angeles County, the roiling Santa Clara River carried away three motorhomes early Saturday after carving into an embankment where an RV park is located. Two were taken to a hospital with hypothermia, said spokesperson Brian Humphrey. The Los Angeles Fire Department used a helicopter to rescue four homeless people who were stranded in the river's major flood control basin. The Los Angeles River and other waterways that normally flow at a trickle or are dry most of the year were raging with runoff Saturday. "Quite a remarkable storm the last few days with historic amounts of precip and snow down to elevations that rarely see snow," the LA-area weather office wrote. Rainfall totals as of late Saturday morning were equally stunning, including nearly 15 inches (38.1 centimetres) at Los Angeles County's Cogswell Dam and nearly 10.5 inches (26.6 cm) in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles. Multiday precipitation totals as of Saturday morning included a staggering 81 inches (205 centimetres) of snow at the Mountain High resort in the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles and up to 64 inches (160 centimetres) farther east at Snow Valley in the San Bernardino Mountains. And Interstate 5, the West Coast's major north-south highway, remained closed due to heavy snow and ice in Tejon Pass through the mountains north of Los Angeles. Climate Barometer newsletter: Sign up to keep your finger on the climate pulseĪfter days of fierce winds, toppled trees and downed wires, more than 120,000 California utility customers remained without electricity, according to.Forecasters said there would be a one-day respite before the next storm arrives on Monday. Rare blizzard warnings for the mountains and widespread flood watches were ending late in the day as the storm tapered off in the region. Hills around suburban Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles, were blanketed in white, and snow also surprised inland suburbs to the east. The National Weather Service said it was one of the strongest storms to ever hit southwest California and even as the volume of wind and rain dropped, it continued to have significant impact including snowfall down to elevations as low as 1,000 feet (305 metres). A powerful winter storm that swept down the West Coast with flooding and frigid temperatures shifted its focus to southern California on Saturday, swelling rivers to dangerous levels and dropping snow in even low-lying areas around Los Angeles.
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