Ice storm in California updates : More than 700,000 without power in Michigan after ice storm as California faces threat of blizzards

 Ice storm in California updates : More than 700,000 without power in Michigan after ice storm as California faces threat of blizzards. 

            

More than 700,000 without power in Michigan after ice storm as California faces threat of blizzards

Rare blizzard warnings were issued in California, while more than 724,000 customers in Michigan were without power as of early Friday morning after an ice storm.

LOS ANGELES — Rare blizzard warnings were in place for Southern California mountains early Friday morning as forecasters warned of 5 feet of snow at higher elevations, while other parts of the country were still recovering from a major winter storm.

More than 700,000 homes and businesses in Michigan, including in the metro Detroit area, were without power early Friday morning after what a utility president called a historic ice storm.

In the west, Portland, Oregon, had its second-snowiest day on record Wednesday, with over 10 inches, the National Weather Service said. The 80-year record of 14.4 inches was set Jan. 21, 1943, according to weather service records.

The heavy snow wreaked havoc on travel.

So many stuck cars were abandoned that the city said it was waiving fines for vehicles that are towed for blocking travel lanes.

 
Cars and trucks have stopped along Interstate 84 because of weather conditions in Northeast Portland, Ore., on Thursday.Dave Killen / The Oregonian via AP
“I probably won’t see it until Monday, if that,” Eric Zavala told NBC affiliate KGW of Portland about his car, which he had to leave after it became stuck.

 
The Multnomah County medical examiner’s office was investigating a possible hypothermia death that occurred in Portland on Wednesday, the county said, but whether the person died from the cold has not been confirmed.

The snow wound down in Portland on Thursday, but a wind chill advisory was still in place until noon Friday, with wind chills of minus 5 degrees possible, according to the weather service.

In California, the weather service in San Diego issued blizzard warnings for the San Bernardino County mountains, in a first for the office.

Blizzard warnings were also in effect for mountains in Los Angeles and Ventura counties for the first time since 1989, the weather service said.

 
The warnings were in effect from 4 a.m. Friday until 4 p.m. Saturday. Areas from 2,000 to 4,000 feet could get up to 1 foot of snow, and higher than that could get 5 feet, forecasters said.

Below the snow line, heavy rain could cause flooding. Parts of the Los Angeles area, including downtown, were under a flood watch from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. The state faced threats from what the weather service called “an unusually cold and slow-moving winter storm.”

The California Department of Transportation urged drivers to stay home in affected areas.

Traffic was held up Thursday on Highway 50 in Meyers, south of Lake Tahoe, because of spinouts, the agency said, and Interstate 80 in the Sierra Nevada, from the Nevada state line to Colfax, was closed in both directions. Some cameras in the area were frozen.

Drivers were also briefly stranded on the San Marcos Pass on Highway 154 near Santa Barbara, a Santa Barbara County fire spokesman said. Plows cleared the way, but intermittent closures were possible in the future.