Snow, rain hits California as Michigan suffers without power

Heavy snow and rain hit California and other parts of the West Friday in the country’s latest winter storm, while tens of thousands of people in Michigan were hit by freezing temperatures days after one of the worst ice storms in decades caused massive power outages.

Days of winter storms have shut down nearly 1 million homes and businesses from coast to coast, closed major roads, caused traffic jams on highways and hampered air travel. More than 460 flights were canceled in the US and more than 7,400 flights were delayed on Friday, according to FlightAware.com.

In California, the National Weather Service warned of cold, snowy and rainy weather until Saturday and issued a flash flood warning until 10 p.m. Friday for Los Angeles, its suburbs and parts of Ventura County, home to about 6 million people. .

Mobile phones rang Friday afternoon with an emergency alert that warned: “This is a dangerous and life-threatening situation. Do not attempt to travel unless you are leaving a flood prone area.”

Up to 10 inches (23 centimeters) of rain could fall in some places in the flash flood warning zone, according to the weather service.

Authorities have warned that heavy rains could trigger mudslides in some areas hit by wildfires in recent years. Evacuation warnings were issued in some areas, and residents were urged to be ready to flee at any moment.

Blizzard warnings were posted in the Sierra Nevada and Southern California mountain ranges, where up to 5 feet (1.5 meters) of snow was expected. Temperatures in the region could drop well below normal, posing a particular risk to the homeless.

“To put it simply, this will be a historic event due to the amount of snow at higher peaks and snow at lower altitudes,” the regional weather bureau said.

Interstate 5, the West Coast’s main north-south highway, was closed south of the Oregon border as snow fell to the bottom of the Sacramento Valley. A high mountain pass north of Los Angeles was also closed for several hours before finally reopening late Friday night, though traffic crept along with a police escort.

In Michigan, hundreds of thousands of people were left without power on Friday after a storm earlier this week covered power lines, power poles and branches with three-quarters of an inch (1.9 centimeters) thick ice. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called on Friday for greater accountability for efforts to rebuild the state’s two largest utilities.

Annemarie Rogers was without power for a day and a half at Grosse Point Farms, Michigan. She sent the two children to stay with relatives and put extra blankets on the bed to keep warm.

“It’s a little pathetic,” she said. “We have a gas fireplace that keeps us warm in the same room. The oven gives off some heat, but without power to the blower, the air doesn’t circulate well.”

At one point, over 820,000 customers in Michigan found themselves in the dark. By Friday, their numbers had dwindled to less than 600,000, most of whom lived in the densely populated southeast corner of the state around Detroit. But promises to restore power by Sunday, when low temperatures are expected to rise above freezing (minus 18 Celsius) again, were of little comfort.

“That’s four days without power in this weather,” said Apoorva Gokhale of Walled Lake, Michigan. “It’s unthinkable.”

Tom Rankin said he and his wife were unable to reach his 100-year-old mother-in-law Friday morning. The couple drove to her home in Bloomfield, Michigan, and found her in bed “with a bunch of blankets,” Rankin said, adding that they helped her get into the car, planning to wait out the accident at another relative’s house.

“In the past 50 years, we haven’t had an ice storm that impacted our infrastructure like this,” said Trevor Lauer, president of Detroit-based DTE Electric.

At least three people died as a result of the hurricane. A Michigan firefighter died Wednesday after coming into contact with a downed power line, and in Rochester, Minnesota, a pedestrian died after being hit by the city’s snowplow. Portland, Oregon authorities said the man died from hyperthermia.

Much of Portland has been closed as icy roads are not expected to melt until Saturday after the city received the city’s second-heaviest snowfall on record this week, nearly 11 inches (28 centimeters).

Tim Varner sat wrapped in blankets at the door of a Portland store that protected him from wind, ice, and snow. Local authorities opened six overnight shelters, but the 57-year-old, who has been homeless for two decades, said it was too difficult for him to push a cart full of his belongings to get to one.

“It’s impossible,” he said. “Snow accumulates on the wheels of your cart, and then you find slippery spots and lose traction. So you’re stuck.”

In Northern California, snow has accumulated in Santa Cruz County as roads have been closed and motorists have been forced to abandon their vehicles.

Not everyone was afraid of winter weather. In the San Francisco Bay Area, hundreds of people climbed the 2,500-foot (760-meter) Mount Tamalpais to play in the snow – a rarity in the area.

San Francisco resident Shankar Krishnan woke up at 4am and set out hoping to see snow for the first time in a long time.

“It’s amazing. It’s like all the trees are frozen. Snow covered earth. Snow is falling from the sky,” Krishnan said. “It’s beautiful here.”

Some schools in Nevada and northern Arizona were closed, and the opening game of the Major League Soccer season in Southern California was postponed.

The storm added to major rainfall from December and January “atmospheric rivers” that improved California’s drought forecast, but authorities distributing water to farms, cities and industries remain cautious due to a recent history of dramatic changes in hydrological conditions. ___

This story has been updated to correct the number of canceled and delayed flights to the US. The previous story used global numbers instead of US numbers.

___

Thaksin reported from Orange County, California and White from Detroit. Associated Press journalists Haven Daly of California, Claire Rush of Oregon, Cory Williams of Michigan, Scott Sonner of Nevada, Margaret Stafford of Missouri, and Sarah Bramfeld of Washington, as well as many other AP journalists around the country, contributed to this report.