WINDS SHRED SOUTHERN PLAINS; CALIF. TO GET SNOW
Parts of the Southern Plains counted the injured and surveyed the damage Monday after tornadoes and other powerful winds swept through, killing at least one person and injuring three others in Oklahoma.
A tornado touched down Sunday night in far western Oklahoma near the town of Cheyenne, where 20 homes were damaged and four others destroyed, Roger Mills County Emergency Manager Levi Blackketter reported.
Statewide, Oklahoma officials received reports from area hospitals of 55 people who suffered weather-re lated injuries.
Officials in Norman, Okla., confirmed 12 weather-related injuries after tornadoes and wind gusts as high as 90 mph were reported in the state Sunday night. The winds toppled trees and power lines, closed roads, and damaged homes and businesses around Norman and Shawnee.
Meanwhile, a blizzard warning was in effect for most of the Sierra Nevada into Wednesday and an avalanche warning was issued for the backcountry around Lake Tahoe, where up to 6 feet of snow was expected over the next two days in the upper elevations and gale-force winds could create waves up to 5 feet high on the lake, said the National Weather Service in Reno.
State offices across northern Nevada and the Nevada Legislature in Carson City both shut down on Monday due to the winter storms.
The new series of storms arrived even as parts of California were still digging out from last week’s powerful storm.
In the Sierra, Yosemite National Park announced it would be closed until midweek, and numerous roads were closed in Sequoia National Park. Trans-Sierra highways were subject to closures and chain requirements. Roads to San Bernardino Mountain resort communities around Big Bear Lake were reopening after closures because of last week’s huge snowfall. The storm stranded more than 600 students at science camps in the Big Bear area over the weekend. The students from Irvine were expected home Friday but officials decided it was safer to keep them in the mountains until the roads could be cleared. The California Highway Patrol began escorting out buses carrying the students on Monday, the Irvine Unified School District said.