Worry and fear are running high in snow-bound Mammoth Lakes. “We’re afraid of all the ways we could die here on any given day,” said local resident Stacy Bardfield. “Will it be a roof caving in? A propane line blast? Fallen electric transmission lines?”
Buildings groan and crack under the strain of accumulated snowpack, forcing occupants to flee. Slabs of snow and ice plummet from rooftops with the force of falling pianos. Columns of smoke rise from homes whose gas lines have become fouled by snow, causing them to explode.
“Unfortunately, our town officials were months late in preparing for the task before us,” Bardfield said. “Now, it’s going to take an army to turn things around.”Propane gas spewing from lines buried deep beneath the snow has already touched off two explosions. One leveled a building and injured five people two weeks ago.
Removal services costing up to $20,000 have forced homeowners to withdraw life savings, take out hefty loans, or leave snowpack up to 20-feet thick alone in hopes of collecting insurance in the event of major property losses. A home on Juniper Road was destroyed when a propane tank exploded in Mammoth Lakes. No one was home at the time.
Patricia Cervantes, 42, and her 18-year-old son were among 10 low-income families that she said were given 20 minutes to evacuate a two-story “affordable housing” complex after it was red-tagged on March 17 due to structural damage. Cervantes wishes Mammoth Mountain would agree to close its skiing operations for a few days a week. That, she said, “would give us time to take care of personal needs, and to shovel snow off our parking lots.”
That hasn’t been easy in an area that recently blew through its all-time record of 668 inches of snow.all that snow starting to meltForecasts suggesting that temperatures in Mammoth Lakes could reach 63 degrees on Sunday were met with apprehension in some areas of town.
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