‘Panic’ as Snow Traps Residents, Students in Mountains Near L.A.

Fear is setting in around several towns in the San Bernardino Mountains near Los Angeles as snow continues to fall, blocking key roads, trapping residents in their homes, and preventing children from returning to the city.

As Breitbart News reported, more snow is falling on the area atop the snowfall from last week’s intense, statewide snowstorm. Mountain communities are used to winter snow, but not at this level of intensity.

The Los Angeles Times reported on Monday that “panic” is beginning to set in around Lake Arrowhead:

Five feet of snow in the last five days have blanketed the Lake Arrowhead area in the San Bernardino Mountains, according to the National Weather Service. The conditions have also trapped people in their homes and vacation rentals and students at science camps, and people are rationing food and other supplies as they wait for more information from local officials.

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The Lake Arrowhead area could expect 1 to 2 feet of snow starting Tuesday evening and into Wednesday, said meteorologist Dan Gregoria with the National Weather Service in San Diego.

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Hundreds of students from Irvine were stranded on their field trips to science camp in the nearby communities of Crestline and Running Springs over the weekend. The roads to the Pali Institute Outdoor Education Center and the Thousand Pines Camp were inaccessible, Irvine Unified School District spokesperson Annie Brown said.

Breitbart News confirmed Sunday evening that roads up and down the mountain were closed.

Local Fox affiliate KTTV-11 reported that tourists and vacationers were trapped on the snow-bound mountain:

Three families from Santa Clarita expected a snowy weekend retreat in an Airbnb. Jessica Kanes said while the six kids most definitely had fun, the parents have started to worry about how and when they’ll get home.

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Kanes said the families brought enough food for the trip, but not enough for their trip to last past Sunday.

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On top of families being stranded, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department warned the road closures have led to gas stations and grocery stores having “critically low levels” of remaining supply and will likely not be able to serve their customers with the limited clearances of roads up in the region’s mountain communities.

At lower elevations, rainfalls has caused continued havoc, with a mudslide in La Cañada Flintridge damaging two homes:

The National Weather Service has issued blizzard warnings for the Sierra Nevada this week as rain and snow continue to fall throughout the state. The storm is expected to continue through Wednesday morning.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.