A Southern California sheriff has warned Californians to avoid the San Bernardino Mountains after 16 feet of snow was dumped there, trapping residents for 10 days.
Sheriff Shannon Dicus “encourages people to stay out of the local mountains” for recreational activities as deputies continue to work tirelessly to get residents out of the dangerous conditions.
“I urge the public to please stay out of those areas for any kind of recreation, it’s just not safe,” he said at a press conference on Friday. “People, we’re here for you, we’re going to dig you out and we’re coming.”
The Sheriff’s Department provides residents with ready meals for those who don’t have access to a grocery store.
Dicus described the bailouts as a heart, saying ‘the state highways are like arterial roads, and then you go on the county roads and they’re like arteries, and individual services and homes are like capillaries’.
Sheriff Shannon Dicus “encourages people to stay out of the local mountains” for recreational activities as deputies continue to work tirelessly to get residents out of the dangerous conditions. Residents queue to receive food (pictured)
A man digs himself out of a heavy snow area in Southern California’s San Bernardino
The Big Bear Mountain Resort received 134 inches, or more than 11 feet, of snow. Throughout the season, the area has received about 5 feet of snow (photo: a house in Twin Bridges)
“The facilities in the houses that people need to have access to are blocked by walls of snow. So even though we’re making progress, we still have to tear down those walls, clear people’s driveways and clear businesses, and a number of things,” Dicus said.
Several roads into Big Bear, as well as the San Bernardino National Forest, are closed until March 16, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The Big Bear Mountain Resort received 134 inches, or more than 11 feet, of snow. Throughout the season, the area has received about 5 feet of snow.
Derek Hayes, stranded in the mountains of California, said he was “very frustrated at first, but now we’re a little scared.”
“There’s nowhere to put the snow, there’s no way to walk around it — it’s up to my neck in many places,” he shared CNN. “You take one step and you sink all the way down.”
“It’s just crazy,” another resident, Charlene Bermudez, told the outlet. “There’s just no way to get out of anything.”
One of Bermudez’s neighbors, who has cancer, has been trying to go outside to attend a doctor’s appointment, she told CNN.
The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for the first time in San Bernardino. Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency.
The Big Bear Mountain Resort received 134 inches, or more than 11 feet, of snow. San Bernardino Fire works around the clock to help people who are trapped
The Sheriff’s Department provides residents with ready meals for those who don’t have access to a grocery store
Dominga Mijangos, an old resident of Crestline, receives donated food
Several roads into Big Bear, as well as the San Bernardino National Forest, are closed until March 16, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Hannah Whiteoak, who has had to dig her car out at least four times, said the mountain community has gone into ‘survival mode’ and is ‘on and on and on’.
It’s unclear how many people are trapped, but 13 counties are in emergency situations.
Yesterday, tornadoes swept through Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, leaving a trail of destruction — with more tornadoes predicted through Friday.
The devastation is exposed in dramatic videos showing overturned trucks, fiery explosions and debris scattered across neighborhoods and highways. The extreme weather continues Friday with a chance of ‘baseball-sized hail’ in some areas.
Workers in Twin Bridges examine the snow on Friday. The Sierra snowpack survey conducted on Friday revealed a recorded snow depth of 116.5 inches
State Route 38 is covered in snow with high snowdrifts lining the tree-lined road
A snowy mountain can be seen in San Bernardino on Thursday
A clip filmed in Texas shows power lines engulfed in flames just feet from people’s homes as a tornado passed through. National Weather Service teams planned to head out Friday to survey areas for likely tornado damage in the storm’s path, which stretched from southeastern Oklahoma to Lone Star State and neighboring Arkansas and Louisiana.
The frightening weather across the region comes as parts of California were showered with a rare dose of heavy snow this week.
Eight million people in the South are under a moderate to severe storm threat as Texas and Louisiana are devastated by massive tornadoes.
