Briefs 11/23/2013
• Three killed as storms roll through California
LAS VEGAS (AP) - 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 Saturday morning, National Weather Service meteorologist Steve Anderson said.
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. The cause of death was being investigated.
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, the Contra Costa Times reported. Neither man has been identified.
In Yuba County, Sherri Pesich, 52, died when part of a 30-inch tree fell on a parked car in which she was sitting, Undersheriff Jerry Read said. Another woman in the car was taken to a hospital. Her condition was unknown.
Meanwhile, a homeless man had to be rescued from a tree by helicopter and four others were plucked from an island after becoming trapped in the swollen Santa Ana River in California's San Bernardino County.
In northern Utah, transportation officials warned truck drivers of potential trailer-toppling gusts. No accidents had been reported, but big rigs were pulling off to the side of the freeways to wait out the winds Friday.
• Probation office fire still under investigation
MOSCOW - Federal and local investigators are examining the cause of a fire at a probation office in north-central Idaho.
The Lewiston Tribune reports the blaze broke out Thursday morning at the Idaho Department of Correction District 2 Probation and Parole office in Moscow.
Police chief David Duke says there's no indication the fire was accidental. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting the Moscow Police Department in the investigation
• Gas field tank explosion injures 5 workers
PINEDALE, Wyo. - An explosion in a western Wyoming gas field has injured five workers, one of them critically.
Encana officials say the cause isn't known, but contract workers were welding at the time in the Jonah gas field. Five of six gas condensate tanks exploded at the well site around 10:20 a.m. Friday.
The Sublette County Sheriff's Office says the worker in critical condition was taken to a hospital in Salt Lake City. Another worker in serious condition was taken to Idaho Falls, Idaho.
Two other workers were taken to hospitals in what doctors described as stable condition. Another worker was treated in Pinedale and released.
Encana officials say federal safety investigators will be on site this weekend.
The Jonah field 35 miles south of Pinedale is the seventh-biggest U.S. gas field.
- The Associated Press