RENO, Nev., Jan. 9 -- Areas of the Sierra Nevada, famous for paralyzing amounts of snow, have been hit with a dumping unlike any in generations, with steep drifts stranding an Amtrak train and causing officials to close the Reno airport and major highways across the mountains.
Moisture-laden storms have dropped as much as 19 feet of snow at elevations above 7,000 feet since Dec. 28 and 6 1/2 feet at lower elevations in the Reno area. Meteorologists said it was the most snow in the Reno-Lake Tahoe area since 1916.
The storms have caused flooding in Southern California and Arizona, deadly avalanches in Utah, and ice damage and flooding in the Ohio Valley. Weather was blamed for at least eight weekend deaths in Southern California, including a homeless man killed by a landslide. Avalanches killed two people Saturday in Utah, authorities said, and a teenager was missing in an avalanche Sunday near Las Vegas.
A lull in the storm allowed the reopening Sunday of Interstate 80 over Donner Summit and U.S. 50 over Echo Summit after the highways, which connect Reno and Sacramento, were closed off and on for more than a day.
"The snowbanks along Interstate 80 are about eight to 10 feet high. It's like you're going through a maze," said Jane Dulaney, spokeswoman for the Rainbow Lodge west of Donner Summit.
An estimated 25 motorists were rescued by National Guard troops after spending the night stranded in cars on U.S. 395 south of Reno, police said.
More than 220 Amtrak passengers were back in Sacramento after spending Saturday night stuck in their train in deep snow west of Donner Summit, spokesman Marc Magliari said. One car of the California Zephyr, eastbound from Oakland, Calif., to Chicago, derailed in the snow. No one was hurt. The train reversed course and returned to Sacramento.
Reno-Tahoe International Airport was closed for 12 hours overnight for the second time in a week, and only the third time in 40 years, because plows could not keep up with the heavy snowfall, spokeswoman Trish Tucker said.
Elsewhere, flash-flood warnings were posted throughout Southern California. Residents of a mobile home park in Santa Clarita, northwest of Los Angeles, were evacuated Sunday after five feet of water spilled in from a creek.
In the Midwest, flooding chased hundreds of Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky residents from their houses. Meteorologists predicted the Ohio River would reach its highest level in eight years at Louisville this week.
