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Winter storm prompts closures, rescues on its way out of Southern California Los Angeles Times
Robinson Kuntz/Daily Republic
Hills above Fairfield are covered in snow, Friday.
Late winter storm could spell 2nd year of hardship for almond growers
Todd R. Hansen THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET
VACAVILLE — Mother Nature created a visual winter wonderland late this week with snow-capped ridges across the Coastal Range and much of the state. However, the cold, wet weather could spell a second year of disaster for almond growers. Agriculture officials said they are waiting to see. “The temperatures haven’t dropped down quite as cold as they did at this time last year when the cold temperatures caused the damage,” Agriculture Commissioner Ed King said Friday in a phone interview.
He said his office is tallying the numbers for the 2022 almond crop right now, but it looks like 75% to 80% crop loss. Almonds are the biggest value crop in Solano County. The gross value in 2021 was $71.12 million, the county’s Crop & Livestock Report states. There was not an immediate response to a call and email to the California Almond Board seeking comment. No other crop is at risk right now from the weather unless the area sees the kind of rainfall experienced from the end of December through January, King said. The National Weather Service does not think that is likely in the
Lori Lorenz/Courtesy photo
Snow is shown on the hilltops surrounding Green Valley, Friday. coming weeks. There was some localized flooding due to the 1-plus inches of rain See Storm, Page A9
LOS ANGELES — A powerful winter storm carving a path through Southern California was expected to weaken Saturday, leaving heaps of sleet, snow and recordsetting rain in its wake. Reports of power outages, grounded flights and road closures rang out through the Southland as the plume of frigid moisture traveled a southeastern path. Lightning prompted the closure of several beaches from Los Angeles to San Diego – including all beaches in L.A. County – where officials warned of potential strikes along the coast and over the ocean through midnight. Rescue crews came to the aid of several people, including a 61-year-old
Susan Hiland
SHILAND@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET
VACAVILLE — The Rowland Freedom Center hosted a twohour talk Saturday on the Civil War – but that was just one of the conflicts discussed. The sacrifices of hundreds of brave men and women in wars throughout our nation’s history was also covered during the second in a speaker series event, “Faces of Freedom: Deed of Valor in Vacaville.” Members of the Orson W. Bennett family donated his Medal of
Honor from the Civil War. Bennett was a first lieutenant in the 102nd U.S. Colored Infantry, although he was white. Historian Gregory Downs of UC Davis gave a complete retelling of the battle of Bunny Hill for which Bennett earned his Medal of Honor. On Nov. 30, 1864, while serving with Company A, 102nd Colored Infantry, in action at Honey Hill, South Carolina, Bennett after several unsuccessful efforts to recover three pieces of abandoned artillery gallantly led a small force fully 100 yards in advance
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19,000 served in the Navy. Nearly 40,000 died in the war from wounds, infections and disease. His namesake and descendant Orson Sanchez, 3, along with his mother, Zoe Sanchez,
of the Union lines and brought in the guns, preventing their capture. There were nearly 80 Black commissioned officers in the Union Army. In all, 179,000 Black men – about 10% of the Union forces – served as soldiers and another
See Black, Page A9
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See Rescues, Page A9
Norfolk Southern told to pause Ohio train debris removal by EPA Bloomberg News
Freedom Center visitors hear history of Black contributions to war efforts
man hoisted to safety from a dirt island in the Tujunga wash Saturday morning and two homeless men stranded similarly amid water that had risen in Hansen Dam, the Los Angeles Fire Department said. Four homeless people, along with four dogs and a cat, were also rescued from a remote area of land within the heavily flooded Sepulveda Basin late Friday night, LAFD said. Two of the people were suffering from hypothermia and transported to a hospital. The storm, which already transformed Northern California into a winter wonderland, set multiple precipitation records in and around Los Angeles on Friday,
Norfolk Southern Corp. was ordered by federal officials to pause waste removal at the site of the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment to ensure safe disposal subject to Environmental Protection Agency approval, a regional EPA administrator said on Saturday. On Thursday, Norfolk Southern provided the EPA’s Ohio branch on with a list of sites it was using and “had been solely responsible for the
disposal of waste” until the EPA told it to pause the next day, Regional Administrator Debra Shore told reporters at a briefing in the town. “Moving forward, waste disposal plans, including disposal location and transportation routes for contaminated waste, will be subject to federal EPA review and approval,” she said. “EPA will ensure that all waste is disposed of in a safe and lawful manner at See Train, Page A9
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