9 missing in Western snowstorms

updated 6:43 p.m. ET Jan. 6, 2008

FERNLEY, Nev. - Still more snow piled up Sunday in the Sierra Nevada after storms across the West dumped up to 11 feet — as well as causing three deaths, power outages to hundreds of thousands and setbacks in searches for nine people missing in the mountains.

Winter storm warnings remained in effect for some mountainous areas and the main highway through the Sierra Nevada was closed Saturday night. Residents were warned of possible mudslides in parts of rain-soaked Southern California where slopes had been denuded by the fall's wildfires.

Hundreds of thousands of customers have been blacked out in three states and many of them in California could remain in the dark for days because storms ripped down nearly 500 miles of power lines, utility officials said Sunday.

Six snowmobilers and two skiers were reported missing in heavy snow in the mountains of southern Colorado, and one hiker was missing in snow-covered mountains in Southern California.

Rescuers in Colorado resumed a search Sunday for six snowmobilers last seen Friday, before the storm dumped 3 to 4 feet of snow near Cumbres Pass, close to the New Mexico line.

The Denver Post said the snowmobilers were two couples from Farmington, N.M., and their two children, ages 14 and 13.

Donna Oney of the Colorado State Patrol said 11 search and rescue team members and three deputies were looking for the snowmobilers.

Two skiers were missing 40 miles away in the Wolf Creek ski area, Oney said. Wolf Creek had reported 39 inches of snow overnight.

In the mountains east of Los Angeles, authorities searched Sunday for a 62-year-old man who went hiking Friday just before a storm there began, San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokeswoman Arden Wiltshire said. The man used his cell phone Friday to report he had lost his sense of direction in fog, but searchers last had cell phone contact with him early Saturday.

The area was hit with snow later that day, but the man was believed to be dressed warmly, knows the area well and has survivalist training from serving in the military, Wiltshire said.

Town hit by 'wall of water'

In Fernley, Nev., hundreds of homes sat in as much as 8 feet of water Sunday following a canal rupture as freezing weather spread sheets of ice over yards and streets, hindering efforts to get the water to drain away.

Brad Horn / AP A neighborhood near Farm District Road in Fernley, Nev., sits under flood waters as some residents collect valuables on Sunday, after heavy flooding damaged homes and forced evacuations.

As many as 400 homes were damaged when the canal’s bank gave way following heavy rainfall produced by the West Coast storm system that had piled snow as much as 11 feet deep in the Sierra Nevada.

No injuries were reported in the town about 30 miles east of Reno, after a section of the Truckee Canal levee up to 150 feet long broke soon after 4 a.m. Saturday.

As many as 3,500 people were temporarily stranded and an estimated 1,500 were displaced from their homes, Lyon County Fire Chief Scott Huntley said Saturday night. About 25 people remained at a shelter set up at a high school after a peak of about 150 earlier in the day.

Huntley, one of the first on the scene, described the flood as a "wall of water about 2 feet high going down Farm District Road."

The irrigation canal failure at Fernley released a wave of frigid water into the town early Saturday.

“In 10 minutes the entire back yard was completely flooded. It was just nothing but water,” said Kristin Watson, whose home backs up to part of the canal. “We just sort of panicked because we knew we had to get out of there real quick.”

The canal was repaired by late in the day, but as much as a square mile of the town was still under water at least 2 feet deep Sunday as ice impeded drainage.

“Our hope is over the next 24 hours to get the water out,” Fernley Mayor Todd Cutler said at a briefing Sunday morning. “But we still have up to 8 feet of water in some areas. We need to keep the storm drains unclogged to keep the water moving to a wetland. We also may need to do some pumping in some areas.”

Huntley said officials knew of 18 cases of people rescued from atop homes or cars as fire department and private boats plus four helicopters were pressed into action Saturday, but he believes there were many more.

“The sheer number of rescues was amazing,” Huntley said Sunday.

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