Storm causes flooding on 5 Freeway in Sun Valley

The storm hitting Southern California this week is dumping several inches of rain in many areas of Los Angeles -- and several feet of snow in the mountain areas.

Source: CNN

Winter storms sowed more chaos across the U.S. on Thursday, shutting down much of Portland with almost a foot of snow and paralyzing travel from parts of the Pacific Coast all the way to the northern Plains.

The nearly 11 inches that fell in Portland amounted to the second snowiest day in the city's history. It took drivers by surprise, stalling traffic during the Wednesday evening rush hour and trapping motorists on freeways for hours. Some spent the night in their vehicles or abandoned them altogether as crews struggled to clear roads. Other commuters got off spun-out buses and walked in groups to safety.

The storms also knocked out power to almost a million homes in multiple states, closed schools and grounded or delayed thousands of flights.

The system even brought snow to usually balmy Southern California. The weather service office in San Diego issued its first-ever blizzard warning, covering the mountains of San Bernardino County from early Friday until Saturday afternoon.

San Bernardino County lies east of Los Angeles County, where the first mountain blizzard warning since 1989 was scheduled to take effect at the same time.

In Wyoming, roads across much of the southern part of the state were impassable, state officials said.

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