One resident of Running Springs said he and his wife were down to eating canned beans and soup, which they picked up by hiking through several feet of snow to the nearest convenience store.
Another said she was considering hiking 15 miles down the mountain to escape the increasingly unbearable isolation.
And yet, desperate residents in the San Bernardino mountains are being told by authorities to hang tight while they work to clear record-breaking snow from roads and get supplies to stranded residents.
“The enormity of this event is hard to comprehend,” state Assemblymember Tom Lackey said in a news conference in San Bernardino on Friday.
Massive snowfalls and instructions to shelter in place
Big Bear City got 82 inches of snow during the recent, week-long series of storms. It’s previous record, from 1979, was 58 inches.
Running Springs got a whopping 150 inches of snow over the past week.
“I can’t imagine being trapped in my own home for days, feeling helpless,” Lackey said. “Know that help is coming and we’re sorry it couldn’t get here quicker.”
San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said it could be a week before residents can get out of their homes and down the mountain — an improvement, he said from earlier calculations of up to two weeks.
Residents are being asked to shelter in place if they have food, water and other necessities. Authorities said anyone with urgent medical needs or concerns about the safety of their home should call 9-1-1 or the county’s storm response call center, 909-387-3911.
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