Snow Traps Hundreds of Motorists Overnight

A turbulent blizzard Sunday night and Monday closed Interstate 5 from Northern California to Oregon, stranding hundreds of people, while storms were blamed for two deaths and power outages affecting tens of thousands.

One man died when he suffered a heart attack as his family was stranded in their car in almost 2 feet of snow on Interstate 5.

And on Mammoth Mountain, a snowboarder from Long Beach was killed when he fell face first in deep snow and suffocated, authorities said.

The snowfall began Sunday afternoon, and Siskiyou County in California and Jackson County in southern Oregon were the most affected, said Ryan Sandler, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Medford, Ore.

Up to 3 feet of snow fell in some areas by Monday evening, he said. The area typically gets about 1 foot of snow during blizzards.

“This was a record event for the valleys down there,” Sandler said.

Snow and rainstorms, as well as heavy winds, downed hundreds of power lines throughout the state. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. said 186,000 of its customers had lost power since the stormy weather first hit Sunday. By Monday evening, 115,000 customers had their power restored, and an additional 71,000 customers were still without electricity. Most of the outages were in the northern part of the state, with the Sierra region and cities north of San Francisco Bay hit hardest.

In the Eastern Sierra, Brian C. Daniels, 26, was snowboarding alone when he apparently went off a run and suffocated in the snow, according to Pam Murphy, senior vice president of the ski resort in the Eastern Sierra.

Meanwhile, Interstate 5 was closed from Redding, Calif., to Ashland, Ore., about 9:30 p.m. Sunday, California Highway Patrol officers said. Late Monday night, the northbound highway was open from Eureka to Medford, and southbound from Eureka to Redding.

A 70-year-old man whose name was not released died in his family’s car, said Dave Hard, assistant fire chief of Ashland Fire and Rescue. A medic arrived about 15 minutes after the family called for help, but the man already was in cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead at the scene, Hard said.

CHP officials said vehicles had difficulty moving through the snow after 4 p.m. Sunday. Many were trapped in the blizzard from Sunday night until they were rescued Monday, patrol dispatcher Donna Coleman said.

“These people are plugged up in there,” Coleman said. “There’s no services, there’s no way for them to get out.”

She said most of the cars that were stranded in California were around the small town of Hilt, about a mile south of the Oregon border.

Oregon State Police officials estimated that 200 to 300 vehicles were trapped in the snow since Sunday night. Officers and medical services staff had the most trouble clearing cars off the mountain, officials said.

“The most chaotic thing is the number of vehicles and some tractor-trailers stuck up there,” Hard said. “We’ve had one ambulance literally stuck in traffic all night.”

While most of the stranded passengers calling for help waited patiently, Coleman said, some were “unreasonable.”

“They want us to solve the problem. We have no way to solve it,” she said. “It has to quit snowing, and we have no control of that.”

People rescued from their vehicles in California were taken to American Red Cross shelters set up in five locations in Siskiyou County, said Patrick Christensen, emergency services director for the region’s Red Cross.

Christensen said about 600 to 800 travelers have come to the shelters since Sunday night.

In Oregon, those rescued were taken to Red Cross shelters set up in Jackson County. Marj Jameson, executive director of the Rogue Valley chapter of the Red Cross, said about 300 people were brought to the shelter at Southern Oregon University.

The National Weather Service predicted that the snow would taper off and stop by late Monday evening. The area remained under a winter storm warning through Monday.