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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Weather brings death, disruption

Jacob Melville, 4, catches rain while shopping with his mother, Brandie, in Laguna Hills, Calif., on Friday. (Associated Press)
Associated Press

LAS VEGAS – Three people were killed in blustery Northern California, football playoffs were called off because of rain in Arizona, and dozens of cars became stranded in snowy rural Nevada as winter weather barreled through the West.

The weather system was expected to head east and reach the opposite coast by the middle of next week, but not before dropping rain on the Southwest through this morning.

A low pressure front dropped down from Alaska, followed closely by a high pressure system that stirred up the fierce winds linked to three deaths Thursday in California.

Police responded to reports of an unresponsive person in Oakland and found fallen sections of a tree and power lines. The person was pronounced dead at the scene. Another man died in Oakland less than an hour later after he crashed into a fallen tree while apparently trying to avoid debris in the road.

In Yuba County, Sherri Pesich, 52, died when part of a tree fell on a parked car in which she was sitting.

The rain was turning to heavy snow in higher elevations, including rural eastern Nevada’s Lincoln County, where 50 to 60 cars got stranded early Friday. No injuries were reported, but U.S. 93 was closed south of Ely.