PLACER COUNTY, Calif. — The Placer County Sheriff’s Office is issuing a stern warning to potential travelers after a powerful winter storm blanketed the region with fresh now this week.
"It's not a matter of if. It's a matter of when you could get stuck and potentially stranded," Placer County Sheriff Angela Musallam said.
Musallam issued the warning while sharing details of recent search and rescue missions that have had to be carried out because of the storm. The first case involves a family on the Rubicon Trail.
"That family had been traveling on a quarter tank of gas. That family did not have any supplies whatsoever. And they were so lucky that two of our North Lake Tahoe sergeants were able to respond as quickly as they could and help rescue them," Musallam said.
The driver was traveling with his mother-in-law, wife, and their one-year-old child when their Chevy Tahoe got stuck.
"This family was rescued just before the brunt of the storm hit. So, they were got extremely lucky because that night there were several inches of snow that had packed into that area,” Musallam said.
Deputies shared a Facebook message, telling anyone traveling to the snow what items they should never leave home without.
"Tire chains, flairs, shovels, a flashlight, handwarmers, blankets, a full tank of gas," Musallam said.
They also offer this warning: Many popular areas like the China Wall staging area has received multiple feet of snow.
"Call your family. Talk to your friends. Let them know where you are going, and where you will be," she said.
Musallam offered that advice as the search continues for a 69-year-old man who reported being stranded in the snow on Thursday morning.
"And our deputies responded right away and were able to locate David Glenn Deshon's vehicle along with a couple of sets of tire tracks in the area, which led them to believe that Mr. Deshon may have gotten a ride from an unknown party out of the area," Musallam said.
The sheriff’s office took to twitter with an urgent notice saying Deshon’s vehicle was spotted at mile marker 19 on Mosquito Ridge Road, just by Forest Hilll. The thing is, Deshon has not yet returned home.
"Weather conditions were so extreme that deputies had to temporarily call off the search," she said.
Placer County officials say, thankfully, conditions have improved enough to resume an initial search.
"In the areas that are accessible, meaning the areas that have not been completely snowed in. We still need to wait for conditions to improve before we deploy our air unit and search and rescue teams," Musallam said.
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