LOS ANGELES, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Three women drowned overnight in a Southern California stream that was swollen by a powerful winter storm that was pushing into the Rocky Mountains and toward the Great Plains on Tuesday.
Firefighters rescued two of the five passengers in the overturned sport utility vehicle that had been swept into Agua Hedionda Creek in northern San Diego County; however, they were unable to save the three other occupants trapped inside.
"The vehicle was coming down the canyon and attempting to cross the stream, and at the time they tried that, the water was flowing over the top of the stream crossing and washed the vehicle about 100 yards downstream," Carlsbad Fire Chief Brian Watson told San Diego television station KNSD. "The vehicle then turned over on its top."
The tragedy north of San Diego was the worst loss of life in the massive storm that covered much of the West Coast on Monday.
Meanwhile, two people were killed in a traffic accident involving a charter bus in Riverside County; two occupants of a small plane were killed when the aircraft plunged into a garage in Anaheim; two people in Bend, Ore., died when a tree fell on their home, and a snowboarder was killed over the weekend by an avalanche near Lake Tahoe bringing the storm's death toll to 10.
The storm, the latest in a series of weather systems to roll in off the northern Pacific in the past week, left behind scattered rain and snow in the West Coast states Tuesday as the brunt moved into the Rockies and headed toward the Great Plains.
"Snowfall up to 6 inches on the plains and up to a foot in the Black Hills will combine with northwest winds to 40 mph, creating dangerous winter conditions," the National Weather Service in South Dakota said in a winter storm watch posted Tuesday. "Heavy snow, strong winds and very cold temperatures are possible, but the timing and track of the storm are still uncertain."
The Midwest enjoyed relatively mild weather Tuesday, though some areas around Chicago and Milwaukee were expecting thunderstorms and possibly freezing rain during the evening hours.
More certain Tuesday was the storm's presence in the Rockies where up to a foot of new snow and 40-mph winds were expected in some areas through the course of the day.
Meanwhile, California and the Pacific Northwest enjoyed a slight respite from the wild weather Tuesday. Scattered showers were seen over western Washington and much of California with the heaviest concentration along the base of the Sierra near Truckee.
Another powerful storm was expected to make landfall sometime Thursday, and while it was not supposed to be as wet as Monday's, the threat of strong winds, heavy ocean surf and flash flooding remained.
"Less rainfall will be required to produce rises on rivers and streams, and urban flooding will easily occur," warned the NWS in San Francisco. "Residents are advised to be prepared for this prolonged period of wet and stormy weather."
