600K without power amid Calif. storm

Breaking Earth News
California, USA
Image: A severe winter storm approaching the Sierra Nevada and the Lake Tahoe Basin causes delays.

SANTA ANA, Calif. - The storm that has pummeled California with gale-force wind and heavy rain dropped a thick blanket of snow on the Sierra Nevada on Saturday and kept thousands of people from their homes in mudslide-prone areas.

A major highway crossing the Sierra Nevada between Nevada and Northern California had been closed since Friday evening because of the snow.

Up to 44 inches of snow had fallen in some parts of the Sierra Nevada, the National Weather Service said Saturday morning. Forecasters expected the storm to dump as much as 10 feet at higher elevations of the mountain range by Sunday.

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