US:Still more snow piled up yesterday in the western US mountains, where at least 1½ metres (5ft) had fallen from a storm that contributed to flooding, killed at least three people and blacked out thousands of customers on the west Coast.
At least 1½ metres of snow had fallen on ski areas in the Sierra Nevada mountains early on, with almost 3m possible at some higher elevations, the National Weather Service said. As much as a metre more could hit the area by tomorrow evening, the weather service added.
A ruptured levee sent a freezing "wall of water" from a rain-swollen canal into the desert town of Fernley on Saturday, flooding hundreds of homes and forcing the rescue of dozens of people by helicopter and boat.
No injuries were reported in the flood in the town, some 30 miles east of Reno.
Up to 3,500 people were temporarily stranded and an estimated 1,500 ended up being displaced from their homes.
"We saw water coming in the back door and tried to grab as much stuff as possible to save it. The water was rising very quickly and it was scary," said one resident, Eric Cornett.
As the water receded, Fernley mayor Todd Cutler said he had reports of damage to at least 300 to 400 homes. The cause of the levee break was not clear.
Nevada governor Jim Gibbons declared the county an emergency area. The Federal Emergency Management Agency planned to conduct a damage assessment today.
In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared emergencies in three counties hit hard by the storms.
In the mountains east of Los Angeles, authorities searched for a 62-year-old man who went hiking on Friday afternoon just before the storm began, San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman Arden Wiltshire said.
The man knows the area well and has survivalist training from serving in the military, Ms Wiltshire said.
California and Nevada officials said low visibility prompted authorities to again close nearly 161km (100 miles) of Interstate 80 from some 48km (30 miles) east of Sacramento until just over the eastern border because of blizzard conditions, but it was reopened yesterday.
The weather also was blamed as a significant contributory factor in a 17-car pile-up that closed the westbound lanes of Interstate 80 just east of the Reno-Sparks area on Saturday afternoon.
Some 311,000 Pacific Gas and Electric customers in northern and central California were without power late on Saturday, spokeswoman Mariana Hernandez said. Southern California Edison spokesman Gil Alexander said only some 2,290 customers were still out early yesterday.
East of Los Angeles, Lindsey Marie Erickson (25) died after her pickup truck was swept into a flood channel, police said. Rescuers found her boyfriend, Rene Valencia (36) clinging to a tree.
The storm also was blamed for the death of a woman killed by a falling tree in Oregon, and a falling branch killed a transportation worker in northern California on Friday.
Oregon governor Ted Kulongoski declared a state of emergency for Umatilla County because of significant wind damage. - (AP)