California Storms Take Their Toll, and a hiker remains missing

According to my newspaper this morning here in Southern California the storms that have walloped California have claimed four lives. Sacramento and a nearby area, in Northern California, was the site of three of the deaths. The fourth died in the Inland Empire in Southern California in her pickup when the truck was swept into a flood channel in Chino.

More than 85,000 customers have been without power in the state since Friday, and more storms are on their way.

A lost hiker in the San Bernardino Mountains vanished Friday afternoon. The missing hiker is a 62 year old man who, according to a cell phone call he made, became disoriented in a fog bank before vanishing. 43 searchers are out looking for him, but with these storms slamming into the area dumping an untold amount of snow on the mountains, the search was postponed until there was a break in the weather.

The missing man is an avid hiker familiar with survival techniques and indicated on the cell phone call he had made that he is confident he will be rescued, and will stay in one place as the rescuers search for him. He was dressed warmly and was not injured, but the cold temperatures and his lack of food, water, or shelter has searchers concerned. Ironically, he moved to this area recently from a more familiar location in the mountains, but had to move because his home was destroyed in last October's fires.