180 drivers rescued from Southern California snowstorm
The coldest snowstorm so far this winter didn’t hit Chicago or the East Coast, but Southern California.
The San Bernardino Mountains, about 50 miles east of Los Angeles, were buried in windswept snow Tuesday. Firefighters rescued over 180 stranded drivers as of early Wednesday morning, using SnowCats to plow through the 12-plus inches of snow covering the steep, winding Highway 138. Drivers were taken to a ski lodge, a fire station and a nearby church, where Red Cross workers administered aid, while others either left their cars and walked to shelter or drove away once the roads were cleared.
The San Bernardino County Fire Department tweeted this picture of the snowplow mission at 6:34 a.m., announcing that their rescues were complete.
Hwy 138 & Mt. Baldy (final): Rescues complete. Press release @ http://t.co/c3RU8ZSSuS under latest news. /tm pic.twitter.com/E5bSN7Mmsv
— SB County Fire (@SBCOUNTYFIRE) December 31, 2014
Some drivers tweeted about their plight while stranded in their cars.
Driving from Wisconsin to LA only to be stuck in the worst traffic jam of all time due to a San Bernardino snow storm! Stopped cold in Cali!
— Kevin Rutkowski (@KevinRutkowski) December 31, 2014
Others waited until they were safe home.
We were stuck for 3 hours!! San Bernardino fire crews rescue more than 130 motorists stranded in 1 foot of snow http://t.co/ZxsGENvJDb
— Lynn Vavreck (@vavreck) December 31, 2014
Fortunately, no one in San Bernardino was hurt, but other parts of the typically sunny state weren’t as lucky. Northern California was blasted with high winds that knocked out power for more than 8,000 people in Sacramento and blocked both road and train traffic in the San Francisco Bay Area. The weather’s wrath proved not only to be inconvenient, but deadly. Falling trees left two people dead in separate incidents in Butte County, north of Sacramento, with one crashing onto a car, the other into a home, killing those inside.
One woman in Elk Grove, right outside Sacramento, told the local NBC News affiliate that a sixth sense saved her from the 30-year-old tree that fell onto her house, Tuesday.
“I had a premonition,” Tracy Tillotson said. “Something told me to leave the home, so I left for about 10 minutes. And I came back and the tree was in my house.”