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U.S. NEWS Thursday 16 February 2017

2 New England states battle more snow after nonstop storms

DAVID SHARP rakes-and-shovels aisle was
Associated Press empty except for four pink
Two New England states shovels.
battled more snow “This was full of shovels be-
Wednesday after several fore the big blizzard came.
days of practically nonstop Within a day or two, it
storms. Maine and New was pretty much like this
Hampshire residents faced — wiped right out,” store
the prospect of more than worker Mark Dwyer said,
a foot of snow after a week referring to Monday’s bliz-
of storms left accumula- zard. At Mainely Small En-
tions up 58 inches in Jones- gines, in Westbrook, Maine,
boro and 50 inches in East- Randy Shaffer had bad
port, both in Maine. news for customers with
New Hampshire officials broken snow blowers: His
warned that heavy snow mechanics were backed
and ice buildup could put up three to four weeks.
roofs in danger of collapse, Amid a cacophony of en-
and Fire Marshal William gines and incessantly ring- Ryan Jussif shovels out a front porch and walkway in Derry, N.H. Two New England states battled
Degnan urged property ing telephones, custom- more snow Wednesday after several days of practically nonstop storms.
owners to clear snow and ers desperately sought his (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
ice from chimneys and counsel. “It’s us who has inches of snow for most of shire — may get covered The good news is next
vents to prevent carbon the desperation, as a rule,” Maine and part of New over by up to 20 inches. week’s forecast is storm-
monoxide buildup. he joked. “We’re just try- Hampshire before the Portland, Maine, could see free.
Amid the warnings, some ing to do what we can do. storm ends Thursday morn- another 10 inches after ac- “We’ve got a nice break
stores were running low on With the phones ringing off ing, John Jensenius of the cumulations of 34.1 inches where there are no big
snow blowers, shovels and the wall, and us backed up National Weather Service over the seven-day stretch, storms through late next
roof rakes. for service, they have to said. Some cities — Frye- he said. Manchester, New week — or longer,” said Mal
At Ace Hardware Store wait in line.” burg and Bridgton in Maine Hampshire, may get about Walker of the weather ser-
in Falmouth, Maine, the The forecast called for 10 and Conway in New Hamp- 6 inches of snow. vice in Caribou, Maine.q

California officials rush to drain lake as new storms begin

J. COOPER Nonetheless, California dam remained under an Honea said some homes in to shore up the spillways
PAUL ELIAS Department of Water Re- evacuation warning and the evacuation zone had over the weekend and
Associated Press sources chief Bill Croyle they should be prepared to been burglarized and dep- avoid what could be a cat-
OROVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Of- said water was draining leave if the risk increases. uties had made of arrests. astrophic failure and flood.
ficials raced to drain more from the reservoir at about Some 200,000 people were He also called on private The swollen lake reached
water from a lake behind four times the rate that it allowed to return home drone operators to refrain its capacity over the week-
battered Oroville Dam as was flowing in. and the re- Tuesday after being or- from flying their devices end and spilled down an
new storms began rolling pairs should hold at the na- dered to evacuate Sun- over the dam. Private unpaved emergency spill-
into Northern California on tion’s tallest dam. day. drones can interfere with way for nearly 40 hours,
Wednesday and tested He said work crews had Sandra Water, 42, of Oro- the repair work, which in- leaving it badly eroded.
the quick repairs made to made “great progress” ce- ville initially fled her home cludes helicopters, he said. The problem occurred six
damaged spillways that menting thousands of tons with little more than the The 770-foot-tall dam is lo- days after engineers dis-
raised flood fears. of rocks into holes in the clothes she was wearing. cated in Oroville, a small covered a growing hole in
The three storms were ex- spillways. Now, she’s preparing for Gold Rush-era town along the dam’s main concrete
pected to stretch into next “We shouldn’t see a bump the possibility of another the Feather River in the Si-
week. Forecasters said the in the reservoir” from the evacuation by gathering erra Nevada foothills. spillway.
first two storms could drop upcoming storms, Croyle food, clothing and senti- The region is largely rural, Croyle said teams were
a total of 5 inches of rain. said. mental items like photo- with its politics dominated working on plans for per-
However, the third storm, The reservoir has dropped graphs. by rice growers, orchard manent repairs to the
starting as early as Mon- 20 feet since it reached ca- “You are always cautious operators and other ag- dam’s main spillway that
day, could be more pow- pacity Sunday. Croyle said when you live under a big ricultural interests. It’s could cost as much as $200
erful. officials hope it falls 50 feet dam, but we’ve always dogged by the high unem- million.
“There a potential for sev- by this Sunday. been pretty confident ployment rates endemic to As state officials puzzle
eral inches,” National Still, officials warned resi- that it was safe and that it farming communities. through how to repair it,
Weather Service forecaster dents who have returned wasn’t going to fail,” she Dump trucks and helicop- federal regulators have or-
Tom Dang said. “It will be to their homes that the said. ters dropped thousands of dered California to figure
very wet.” area downstream of the Butte County Sheriff Kory tons of rocks and sandbags out what went wrong.q