Nasty Weather Drowns Trees, Cuts Power

Snow, rain and wind continue to pelt northern California and the Sierra as the latest in a series of Pacific storms hits the region causing damage.

Heavy rains falling in the foothills, along with strong winds, caused a number of trees to fall — some into power lines another into several parked cars.

A Chevy pick-up truck and a Buick sedan were crushed when roots of a huge oak tree gave way in soaked dirt, allowing the tree to crash down in the parking lot of Tuolumne General Hospital in Sonora this morning.

Crews from Joe Cover and Sons Logging out of Tuolumne were busy in the pouring rain late this morning using chain saws to get the oak tree off the crushed vehicles.

A tree dropped onto Mono Way before 5 a.m. this morning, right on the curve across from Clark Pest Control. Sonora Police routed traffic around the mess until crews could drag the tree off the road.

Tree limbs into powerlines in downtown Sonora cut electricity off for about four hours late last night into the wee hours of the morning as well.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning through noon today for the Lake Tahoe region, where forecasters say up to 2 feet of snow is possible at the higher elevations. Chains were mandatory this morning on all major Sierra highways.