Storms Pummel California, Nevada

The third major storm in three days hit California, leaving at least two people dead and nearly a half-million people without power. Even before the second storm finished dumping more than 5 ft of snow in the Sierra Nevada, the latest storm brought strong rain and wind.

Mandatory evacuation orders have been lifted, but officials have encouraged thousands of Southern California residents to avoid homes threatened by flooding and mudslides in wildfire-scarred areas. Near Reno, Nev., a deluged canal levee ruptured, sending 3 ft of water flowing through 800 homes. The high waters trapped 3,500 people in the town of Fernley; school buses and helicopters rescued the stranded persons.

"If you take the wind gusts, the snowfall and all of it together, it's definitely one of the biggest storms we've experienced in a number of years," said Scott McGuire, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "The 165 mile per hour wind gust is very impressive, no one here's heard of a bigger one."

At the peak of the storm events, more than 1.6 million homes and businesses from the San Francisco Bay area to the Central Valley were powerless. This number has since been reduced to about 450,000, according to Pacific Gas & Electric and other regional utility providers.

Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune