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More Than 1M Lose Power in Calif. Storm

 

Pacific Gas & Electric worker Anthony Battiano lowers the remains of a power

line pole that broke in high winds in Felton, Calif., Friday, Jan. Tony AvelarBy

SAMANTHA YOUNG (Associated Press Writer)

From Associated Press

January 04, 2008 7:13 PM EST

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Howling winds, pelting rain and heavy snow pummeled

California on Friday, toppling trees, flipping big rigs, cutting power to more

than a million people and threatening mudslides in fire-scarred areas.

 

Flights were grounded in Northern California as gusts reached 80 mph during the

second wave of an arctic storm that sent trees crashing onto houses, cars and

roads. Forecasters expected the storm to dump as much as 10 feet of snow in the

Sierra Nevada by Sunday.

 

The heavy snow was slowing search efforts for a family believed to be missing in

the mountains, authorities said.

 

Highways from Sacramento to San Francisco were closed because of debris or

toppled big rigs blocking lanes, and local roads were flooded.

 

" A huge tree, over 100 years old, just fell across the house. It just wrecked

the whole thing, " said Faye Reed, whose daughter Teenia owns the damaged home

north of Sacramento. " They won't be able to live in it. The whole ceiling fell

in, and now it's raining inside. "

 

More than a million people from the Bay Area to the Central Valley were in the

dark. Crews worked to restore power, but it could be days before all the lights

are on, said Pacific Gas & Electric spokeswoman Darlene Chiu.

 

In Southern California, authorities in Orange County urged residents of three

fire-scarred canyons to flee beginning Friday afternoon. The order also called

for the mandatory evacuation of large animals from the mudslide-prone canyons,

where 15 homes burned last fall in a 28,000-acre wildfire.

 

" It's too late once the rain starts. These areas are extremely vulnerable.

You're risking your life and your family's life fundamentally " by ignoring

orders, said Steve Sellers of the governor's Office of Emergency Services.

 

Riverside and San Bernardino counties, east of Los Angeles, deployed swift-water

rescue teams in case torrential rains bring flash floods and mudslides. The

state opened its emergency operations center Friday morning to coordinate storm

response, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he had spoken with Homeland

Security Secretary Michael Chertoff by phone.

 

" Preparation is really the heart of this whole thing, " Schwarzenegger said after

touring the state emergency operation center at the Los Alamitos Joint Training

Base.

 

Homeowners in Southern California stacked sandbags and hay bales around their

homes while residents in the low-lying areas of the Central Valley -

California's inland breadbasket - piled sandbags to barricade their homes from

streams that forecasters warned might swell.

 

Yosemite National Park rangers and sheriff's deputies combed the Sierra

foothills and mountain snow camps Friday afternoon searching for a Clovis man

and his two children, said Clovis police spokeswoman Janet Stoll-Lee.

 

John Hopper, 64, a volunteer chaplain with the Clovis police, left town Thursday

morning with his 15-year-old twins, Matt and Sarah, to " go play in the snow, "

Stoll-Lee said.

 

The family didn't give any indication of where they were heading, and law

enforcers heard they were missing only when Hopper's ex-wife reported they

hadn't returned late Thursday, she said.

 

" We're pretty concerned because there isn't that much time until darkness is

going to fall and we've got this bad storm headed our way, " Stoll-Lee said.

" Even knowing the county where they were heading would have been helpful. "

 

Travelers saw their flight plans put on hold when airlines delayed or canceled

flights in Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area. The state Legislature in

Sacramento closed offices and sent employees home early.

 

A wind gust of 125 mph was recorded in the Sierra on Friday afternoon, the

National Weather Service said.

 

The wind was expected to continue throughout the afternoon, with gusts between

30 and 50 mph, but are expected to weaken as another storm moves into the area

Saturday, said Kathy Hoxsie, a meteorologist with the Weather Service in

Sacramento.

 

Authorities in Nevada warned truckers as far east as Wyoming not to cross over

the Sierra Nevada into California, where blizzard-like conditions forced ski

resorts and local businesses to shut down.

 

" State officials have been working closely with trucking companies and truck

stops to let them know, 'Stay put,' " said Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Chuck

Allen.

 

As the storms barreled into the West, a freeze in the East was subsiding.

Florida's citrus growers weathered the cold largely unscathed, but strawberry

and tomato growers watched Friday as some of their crops shriveled.

 

A serious freeze would have devastated the Florida's citrus trees, already

struggling from years of diseases and hurricanes. But most groves are in central

and South Florida, where temperatures hovered in high 20s and low 30s during the

freeze. Trees can be ruined when temperatures fall to 28 degrees for four hours.

 

" It could have been far, far worse, " said Terry McElroy, a spokesman for the

state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

 

A better picture of crop damage could come Monday, when the U.S. Department of

Agriculture releases a weekly progress report.

 

At Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park in Key Biscayne, iguanas fell out of trees

Thursday. The cold-blooded reptiles go into a sort of hibernation when

temperatures get too low, even if they are perched in branches. Most woke up

when the weather warmed later in the day.

 

The animals are not native to Florida and are considered a nuisance, park

officials told The Miami Herald.

 

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Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Gillian Flaccus in

Orange County; Don Thompson in Sacramento; Garance Burke in Fresno; Scott Sonner

and Sandra Chereb in Reno, Nev.; and Anthony McCartney in Tampa, Fla.

 

 

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.

Confucius