![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thedarksiren2SAN FRANCISCO (Dec. 17) - A deadly weather system that caused flooding and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers with wind that reached more than 100 mph may have been just the beginning of a stormy holiday period for the West Coast.
''We're in a seriously unstable pattern through the first of the year,'' said National Weather Service forecaster Bob Benjamin.
Rain is expected for the next couple of weeks, with occasional breaks, the weather service said. On Tuesday, showers were scattered across Washington, Oregon and California.
At least nine deaths were blamed on the rough weather that started during the weekend - six in California, two people killed in their bed by a falling tree in Oregon and a snowboarder killed by an avalanche at a Nevada ski resort.
The latest to die were three women whose car was swept down a flooded creek Monday evening at Carlsbad, south of Los Angeles, said Fire Battalion Chief Tom Dana. Two other women with them were rescued.
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. said customers blacked out by power outages at various times since Friday added up to about 1.9 million, from central California to near the Oregon state line,
Southern California Edison said 66,000 customers lost power on Monday, but most had it back Tuesday. In Nevada, Sierra Pacific Power Co. estimated 13,700 customers had no power Monday.
The Northern California towns of Yountville and Los Gatos got 6 inches of rain late Sunday and early Monday. Two people had to be rescued Monday from high water on the Guadalupe River in San Jose. The Napa River overflowed its banks in places and residents were evacuated from RiverPointe, a time-share resort in Napa.
Mountainside dwellers in coastal Santa Cruz County were warned of possible mudslides because soil was saturated. A mudslide in the county 20 years ago buried 12 houses during the night, killing 10 people.
''Instead of edging into it the way we did last year, we are getting into the kind of weather we normally get in January or February. We are about a month ahead of schedule,'' said Raymond Wilson, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
The rain was accompanied by wind up to 50 mph during the weekend, with gusts to 100 mph at the summit of Mount Diablo east of San Francisco Bay, to 90 mph at Reno, Nev., and to 120 mph over the crest of the Sierra Nevada.
''It was amazing,'' said David Prokop of the coastal mountain town of Cazedero, where wind reached 80 mph. ''It's a mess. There's wires everywhere.''
In the mountains, wind-whipped snow temporarily closed Interstate 80, the key link through the Sierra Nevada between northern Nevada and northern California, early Monday.
Chains were still mandatory Tuesday on I-80 over Donner Summit.
From late Saturday through Monday, the Alpine Meadows ski resort near Lake Tahoe collected 44 inches of snow at the lodge and 62 inches above 7,500 feet. Kirkwood had collected 112 inches since Saturday.
''It's always nice for ski resorts when they measure snow in feet instead of inches, especially this time of the year,'' said Katja Dahl, spokeswoman for Squaw Valley, which got 2 1/2 feet of snow during the weekend.
Gusty wind on Tuesday scrubbed a military satellite launch for the second time. A Titan II rocket carrying Navy and Air Force satellites originally was set for liftoff Sunday from coastal Vandenberg Air Force Base. It was put off to Monday because of technical problems, then postponed Monday and again Tuesday because of the weather, military officials said.
AP-NY-12-17-02 1209EST
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
''We're in a seriously unstable pattern through the first of the year,'' said National Weather Service forecaster Bob Benjamin.
Rain is expected for the next couple of weeks, with occasional breaks, the weather service said. On Tuesday, showers were scattered across Washington, Oregon and California.
At least nine deaths were blamed on the rough weather that started during the weekend - six in California, two people killed in their bed by a falling tree in Oregon and a snowboarder killed by an avalanche at a Nevada ski resort.
The latest to die were three women whose car was swept down a flooded creek Monday evening at Carlsbad, south of Los Angeles, said Fire Battalion Chief Tom Dana. Two other women with them were rescued.
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. said customers blacked out by power outages at various times since Friday added up to about 1.9 million, from central California to near the Oregon state line,
Southern California Edison said 66,000 customers lost power on Monday, but most had it back Tuesday. In Nevada, Sierra Pacific Power Co. estimated 13,700 customers had no power Monday.
The Northern California towns of Yountville and Los Gatos got 6 inches of rain late Sunday and early Monday. Two people had to be rescued Monday from high water on the Guadalupe River in San Jose. The Napa River overflowed its banks in places and residents were evacuated from RiverPointe, a time-share resort in Napa.
Mountainside dwellers in coastal Santa Cruz County were warned of possible mudslides because soil was saturated. A mudslide in the county 20 years ago buried 12 houses during the night, killing 10 people.
''Instead of edging into it the way we did last year, we are getting into the kind of weather we normally get in January or February. We are about a month ahead of schedule,'' said Raymond Wilson, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
The rain was accompanied by wind up to 50 mph during the weekend, with gusts to 100 mph at the summit of Mount Diablo east of San Francisco Bay, to 90 mph at Reno, Nev., and to 120 mph over the crest of the Sierra Nevada.
''It was amazing,'' said David Prokop of the coastal mountain town of Cazedero, where wind reached 80 mph. ''It's a mess. There's wires everywhere.''
In the mountains, wind-whipped snow temporarily closed Interstate 80, the key link through the Sierra Nevada between northern Nevada and northern California, early Monday.
Chains were still mandatory Tuesday on I-80 over Donner Summit.
From late Saturday through Monday, the Alpine Meadows ski resort near Lake Tahoe collected 44 inches of snow at the lodge and 62 inches above 7,500 feet. Kirkwood had collected 112 inches since Saturday.
''It's always nice for ski resorts when they measure snow in feet instead of inches, especially this time of the year,'' said Katja Dahl, spokeswoman for Squaw Valley, which got 2 1/2 feet of snow during the weekend.
Gusty wind on Tuesday scrubbed a military satellite launch for the second time. A Titan II rocket carrying Navy and Air Force satellites originally was set for liftoff Sunday from coastal Vandenberg Air Force Base. It was put off to Monday because of technical problems, then postponed Monday and again Tuesday because of the weather, military officials said.
AP-NY-12-17-02 1209EST
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2002-12-17 11:05 am (UTC)(San Francisco native, ya'know?)
no subject
sorry...me too.
no subject
Date: 2002-12-17 01:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-18 04:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-17 10:01 pm (UTC)Very scary indeed.
no subject
*shakes head*