LOS ANGELES — Two people died in a submerged car, evacuations were ordered for wildfire-scarred California, and Seattle and Portland faced the rare chance of snowy streets as a wave of storms rolled through the West.
LOS ANGELES — Two people died in a submerged car, evacuations were ordered for wildfire-scarred California, and Seattle and Portland faced the rare chance of snowy streets as a wave of storms rolled through the West.
The new storms, which could drop rain and snow over much of the region into next week and plunge the Pacific Northwest into a lengthy cold snap, follow a now-departed atmospheric river that delivered copious amounts of precipitation this week.
On Thursday, two people died when their car was submerged in a flooded underpass in Millbrae, California, just south of San Francisco. Firefighters rescued two people who had climbed atop a car but they couldn’t reach the fully submerged vehicle, San Mateo County sheriff’s Det. Javier Acosta said.
In the Sierra Nevada, an evacuation warning was issued Thursday for about 150 homes downstream of Twain Harte Lake Dam after cracks were found in granite that adjoins the manmade part of the 36-foot-high structure.
The warning was lifted around 6 p.m. after inspectors determined the dam was structurally sound and clear it for continued use, according to a Facebook post by the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office.
The Sierra range could see 5 to 8 feet of snow through the holidays, with 10 feet possible at higher elevations, and authorities urged people to avoid traveling through the mountain passes, which could be treacherous.
A winter storm warning issued Friday remains in effect until 10 a.m. Tuesday for most of the Sierra, where as much as 3 feet of snow had fallen early Friday at Mammoth Mountain south of Yosemite National Park. About 2 feet fell Thursday at some Tahoe-area ski resorts.
As much as 5 feet of new snow is possible by Tuesday on mountain tops around Lake Tahoe. One to 3 feet to is expected at lake level. Wind gusts over ridges could exceed 100 mph, the National Weather Service said, making travel difficult to impossible.
In Southern California,
