1-month snowfall a 113-year high

$28m more asked to clear streets

By Glen Johnson and Michael Levenson, Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent  |  January 27, 2005

The dazzling oceanside setting that makes Cape Cod a tourist destination contributed yesterday to another furious onslaught of snow that fell from Falmouth to Provincetown, as Massachusetts endured a winter storm that helped set a record for the highest monthly snowfall in 113 years -- and left everyone from public-works crews to shop owners and motorists frazzled and fatigued.

More than 6 inches fell across Central and Eastern Massachusetts, but additional snow and blizzard conditions continued overnight on the Cape. Cold air from the north and northwest blew across the warmer waters offshore, increasing that area's snow total. The Cape also received more snow than many other areas of Massachusetts last weekend, which had left shoulder-high snow banks and all but major arteries draped in snow three days later.

Crankiness, irritability, and cabin fever were taking hold on this windswept peninsula, better known for its grin-and-bear-it attitude toward winter weather.

''Oh, I hate it," said Sue Oliva, 40, a tire store employee, who said she had played countless games of Yahtzee and Scrabble to keep herself occupied at home. ''My son's in college in Alabama, and he's complaining it's 60 degrees there."

In Boston, the parents of some public-school children, as well as teachers living outside the city, deluged school and city transportation phone lines yesterday morning, similarly exasperated after schools reopened despite heavy snow that started just before daybreak. At midafternoon, School Superintendent Thomas W. Payzant decided to close schools today and tomorrow. Payzant and Mayor Thomas M. Menino said it would allow public-works crews to clear the fresh snow and the final remnants of the weekend blizzard. The earlier storm had closed schools Monday and Tuesday.

Snow was expected to end a little after midnight in Greater Boston, but residents can look forward to a 30 percent chance of more snowfall Monday, according to the National Weather Service.

The recent snowfall not only pushed Massachusetts past the previous record total for a January -- 39.8 inches, set at Logan in 1996 -- but it also broke the monthly snowfall record at Logan -- 41.6 inches, set in February 2003, according to statistics kept since 1892 by the National Weather Service. As of 9 o'clock last night, 4½ inches of snow was reported at Logan International Airport. That brought the total snowfall for January to 42.2 inches.

In addition, the record totals caused the state to deplete its $37.6 million snow- and ice-removal account, prompting Governor Mitt Romney to seek a $28 million supplemental appropriation from the Legislature to pay plow crews responsible for clearing state highways and government property.

Before yesterday's storm, the state had accrued $57.9 million in snow-removal expenses. Romney's request would exceed that total by $7.7 million. The extra money is targeted to pay the new bills and additional plowing expenses this winter, said Jon Carlisle, spokesman for the Executive Office of Transportation.

The governor asked President Bush to declare an emergency in 10 Massachusetts counties so they could receive federal assistance to recover from the weekend storm. At its height, there were 41,000 power outages, snowdrifts topped 7 feet, and wind gusts reached 83 miles per hour.

''This event was a record or near-record snowfall impacting the Commonwealth, accompanied by hurricane-force winds and extraordinary drifting, contributing to the cumulative effect of snow already present on the ground," Romney wrote in his two-page letter.

Counties needing aid are Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Essex, Middlesex, Nantucket, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk, and Worcester. In one example, the City of Boston, which is part of Suffolk County, had already overspent its $7.7 million snow budget by $1.7 million as of yesterday.

Wendy Northcross, chief executive officer of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, said she also planned to ask Romney to seek federal disaster-relief funds for hard-hit Cape businesses. Of the 9,000 businesses there, 95 percent have five to 10 employees. Northcross hoped they would qualify for low-interest loans.

Sunday's blizzard had knocked out power for some 25,000 Cape residents. Early yesterday evening, NStar reported about 300 outages scattered across the Cape, Plymouth, and New Bedford, but but by 8:30 that number was down to 100.

Mark Ells, Barnstable's director of public works, said he was grappling with another looming question raised by the snow: where to haul it all.

After clearing major intersections, Ells said, he was considering trucking it to empty lots by Barnstable Municipal Airport or beach parking lots, now bereft of summer autos. One concern, he said, was to make sure the snow didn't leech road salt or chemicals into sensitive ecosystems.

''It's a challenge," Ells said. ''Especially down here. Cape Cod doesn't get these sorts of storm events that regularly."

The state Department of Environmental Protection sent out a statewide notice urging municipal officials and residents to refrain from disposing of snow in waterways, wetlands, or other surface waters.

The advisory said: ''Snow disposal in water may seem benign and even tempting, but the mixture of salt, sand, oil, pollutants, and trash carried along with the snow (sometimes surreptitiously) will degrade the water quality of wetlands, surface waters, and harbors that so much money, time, and effort has already been expended to improve and protect."

Northcross, the chamber CEO, lives in West Barnstable and said she was typical of many people living on the Cape, where normally mild winters often make it possible to golf year-round.

''There's a little bit of cabin fever going on," said Northcross, who considered herself fortunate after she was able to snow-blow a single path to the front door of her home. The unusually large amount of snow left neighbors competing for the services of a limited number of driveway plows, most of whom were deluged with service calls from their regular customers.

''It's a lost week," Northcross said. ''People are now just finally realizing they either have to dig themselves out or wait till spring."

In Chatham, police Detective Lieutenant Michael Walker was sleepy after beginning work at 7 Saturday night and not returning home until 4 p.m. Monday. He was back at the town's emergency operating center the next morning, and has worked standard eight-hour shifts since.

''Today's Thursday, right?" he asked yesterday.

School will be canceled in Chatham again today, with 12-foot-high snow piles at intersections preventing school buses from making basic turns.

''I've been here 30 years, and I've never seen this," Walker said.

But the arctic conditions had some dreaming of summer seaside vacations.

''Surprisingly, when it snows throughout New England, people start thinking, when they're housebound, about their summer getaways, and it does make our phone ring," said Bob DuBois, executive director of the Yarmouth Area Chamber of Commerce, who was working late yesterday even as the rest of the Cape was virtually shut down.

Globe staff writers Mac Daniel and Tracy Jan contributed to this story, as did correspondent Jack Encarnacao. Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com. 

"We do believe there could be as many as five, but it could go down to one or two," Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds said by telephone.

The sheriff said he could confirm only one male was missing but eyewitness accounts suggested as many as five people may have been consumed by Friday afternoon's avalanche.

The search was suspended during the night because conditions were too dangerous and there was little hope the skiers could have survived after so many hours trapped under the snow.

The 600 to 800 foot wide avalanche came down in an ungroomed area near a resort known as The Canyons.

Avalanche danger signs were posted, but expert skiers are often tempted to ski the pristine areas outside groomed runs.

Ian Provo, an 18-year-old avid skier who witnessed the avalanche, said he had warned a young man just before the event not to ski in the out-of-bounds area.

"These guys dug their own grave," he said by telephone. "It was a pretty emotional scene, I heard a loud crack," said a still-shaken Provo.

Bruce Tremper, director of the Utah Avalanche Center, said the original avalanche was about six to eight feet deep, but grew to 30 feet after search and rescue teams set off controlled avalanches to secure the area.

"This was a monster avalanche," he said.

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

Rescuers have found the body of one of the five people believed to be buried in a massive avalanche near a ski resort in Utah.

Authorities say the male, thought to be in his 20's, was found four feet under the snow today after dogs alerted rescuers.

The body hasn't been identified, though the Summit Countysheriff says the clothing matches that of a missing snowboarderreportedly caught in the slide.

More than 150 rescue workers and trained dogs are participating
in the search.

Friday's avalanche piled snow as much as 30 feet deep, forcing
authorities to count the potential victims by matching eyewitness accounts of the slide to a list of skiers thought to be in the area at the time.

Gondolas stuck as Venice waters recede

Thursday, January 13, 2005

VENICE, Italy (Reuters) -- Gondolas are running aground and hotel docks hang in midair as Italy's lagoon city Venice, more commonly awash at high tide, dries out because of good weather and an unusual combination of planetary influences.

Only the Grand Canal, Venice's biggest and most famous waterway, can still take water traffic, and the falling canal levels have given rise to terms such as "ghost town" and "desert" in local papers.

"The phenomenon is due to low pressure, that is, the good weather that coincides with the syzygy, the alignment of the moon, earth and sun," said Venice's tides office.

The new moon this week has helped push water levels to their lowest point in more than a decade, nearly 2.5 feet (80 cm) below sea level, it said. The lowest fall on record was 4.1 feet (1.21 meters) below sea level in 1934.

The city assured tourists that water levels would soon start rising again, restoring the romantic look they expect.

Get ready for the big chill

It felt a lot more like late March than mid January this morning as the temperature reached 55 degrees in Ann Arbor, but it fell short of setting a record.

"We have a big puff of maritime tropical air coming out of the south," said Carl Ojala, who operates the weather station at Eastern Michigan University. "But it's not going to last long because we're going to get a big puff of continental polar - cold, dry air - coming out of the northwest. And that's going to happen today."

The record high for this date is 66, set in 1950. The recent record high for Jan. 13 was 58 in 1995. In fact, that was quite a week that year, with four record consecutive highs of 54, 58, 54 and 50.

For someone who likes weather as much as Ojala, this has been quite a week too. We've had sleet, snow, dense fog, rain, a chance of thunderstorms, and a roller coaster of temperatures.

Wednesday's fog resulted when the warm air rolled in over the cold ground. The ground cooled the air, condensing water in it and causing the fog.

University of Michigan meteorologist Dennis Kahlbaum said every January since 1880 has had at least one day in the 50s. It hit 72 on Jan. 25, 1950.

The National Weather Service calls for periods of rain showers today before 2 p.m., then rain and snow showers likely until 4, followed by scattered flurries. Some thunder is also possible. A new inch of snow is possible today. Temperatures are expected to dip to 16 degrees tonight.

On Friday, look for partly cloudy skies with a high of only about 22. Friday night will dip to near 9, with wind chills between 6 below and 4 above zero. "We're going to be back in the long johns," said Ojala.

Thursday, January 13, 2005. Page 3.

Moscow Melts in Record Warm Spell

Moscow is enjoying the warmest January in recorded history, and the weather is expected to continue to look more like April for the next few days as balmy Atlantic winds sweep across European Russia and keep temperatures comfortably above freezing. "These have been the warmest first 10 days of January since the beginning of weather monitoring in the country in 1879," Tatyana Pozdnyakova of the Moscow weather bureau said Wednesday. "Usually air temperatures begin rising above zero after March 27. This temperature is characteristic of the first days of April." The average temperature from Jan. 1 to Jan. 10 was 0.5 degrees Celsius, while the normal temperature would be minus 8.5 degrees, Pozdnyakova said. Temperatures hit a high of 5.2 degrees on Sunday, breaking a record of 2.9 degrees set for Jan. 9 in 1976, she said. A record was also set Saturday when temperature rose to 5.1 degrees. The previous record for Jan. 8 was 3.7 degrees in 1932. The first 10 days of 2005 may be the warmest spell in more than a century, but the temperature never reached the record high of 5.6 degrees set in 1992. The warm weather is expected to last through Saturday, with a chance of snowfall Sunday and Monday. By the middle of next week, temperatures will be fluctuating between minus 5 and minus 15 degrees, Pozdnyakova said. Warm air traveled to Russia with the same Atlantic storm that brought gale-force winds and flooding this month to large swaths of Europe, including St. Petersburg and the Pskov and Kaliningrad regions, Pozdnyakova said. A low pressure front drew air from North Africa and the Equator over the Atlantic and spread it over Europe so quickly that the air was prevented from cooling, she said. This winter is so warm that a bear in St. Petersburg Zoo has woken from her hibernation two months early, while another has not gone to sleep at all, Interfax reported Wednesday. A major hockey match was postponed in St. Petersburg on Tuesday because the rink melted, Sovietsky Sport reported. In Moscow, several ice sculpture exhibitions have melted, including the Olimpiiskaya Simfoniya on Vasilievsky Spusk that opened Jan. 5 to tout Moscow's bid to host the 2012 Olympics. Similar warm spells occur every five to seven years, the Federal Weather Monitoring Center said Tuesday. Pozdnyakova said the warmth this year may be an effect of global warming. "Climatic changes chiefly affect winters," she said. Moscow is better known for its bitterly cold winters, which are credited with helping Russians defeat Nazi troops when temperatures dropped to minus 43 degrees during the Battle of Moscow on Jan. 3, 1942, and for driving Napoleon's army out of Moscow in 1812. Moscow's coldest spell for January was recorded in 1893, when the temperature averaged minus 23 degrees.

Thursday, January 13, 2005 · Last updated 5:18 p.m. PT Despite recent snowstorm, snowpack levels near record lows THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SPOKANE, Wash. -- Snowfall has been so light this winter that the snowpack in Washington's mountains is near record lows, setting the stage for drought this summer. The Natural Resources Conservation Service reported that January snowpack readings across the state ranged from 25 percent of average to 72 percent of average. Statewide, the snowpack was just 40 percent of average. "While recent snows have been helpful for the skiing industry, they have been less helpful for the water business," said Scott Pattee, NRCS water supply specialist in Mount Vernon. The Snoqualmie River Basin snow survey reported the lowest readings at 25 percent of average. The highest readings were reported in the Okanogan River Basin, with 72 percent of average. The state received only 75 percent of normal precipitation in November and December, the conservation service said. It is still possible for heavy snowstorms to erase the deficit, but that prospect diminishes as the winter progresses, Pattee said. "If the pattern of below-normal precipitation continues, it could be a difficult water year," he said. Weather forecasters are predicting the current pattern of below-normal precipitation and above-average temperatures will continue for the next 90-days. The water supply forecasts are developed using current and historic average snowpack, precipitation and stream flow data. Information is collected at 120 locations across the state. The agency said that since the present system started in the late 1970s, only 1981 and 1990 had a similar lack of snowpack by this time. --- On the Web: http://www.wa.nrcs.usda.gov/Snow/.

Survivor recalls running from falling mountain 'We looked up and the mountain just spewed' Thursday, January 13, 2005 Posted: 4:59 PM EST (2159 GMT) A search dog assists rescue workers as they search for survivors at the mudslide site. VIDEO A search for a missing mom and three children ends in heartbreak. PLAY VIDEO The California coast is an inviting -- and potentially deadly -- place to live. PLAY VIDEO Rescuers have been working night and day in La Conchita, California. PLAY VIDEO RELATED Gallery: Bad weather across U.S. Interactive: What is a mudslide? • Mudslide hill appears to shift • Man's search ends in grief • CNN Access:  'Rubble, remains' VENTURA, California (AP) -- What Greg Ray remembers is seeing a mountain come down on him. What he doesn't understand is why he survived while two of his friends died in a torrent of liquid earth that buried homes in the hamlet of La Conchita. "I lost people that I love and the only reason that I'm alive ... I don't know," Ray, 61, said Wednesday from his bed at Ventura County Medical Center. The death toll had risen to 10 early Wednesday with the discovery of the bodies of a mother and her three children buried in the mud. Later in the day, authorities announced that all those on a list of those reported missing were finally accounted for. A search for anyone else who might have been in the area was halted Thursday after a muddy area at the base of the towering bluff shifted 6 feet during the early morning, workers said. A geologist was inspecting the area. (Search ends) Ray had stopped to help a friend move out from a home at the base of the hillside. After five days of drenching rain, residents were worried: A mudslide in 1995 buried nine houses in 600,000 tons of mud. "We knew the mountain was coming down," Ray said, but no one knew when. He could see trailer gaining on him Ray said he was helping load camera gear into a car Monday when another neighbor, John Morgan, suddenly shouted a warning. "He yelled at us and said, 'The mountain's coming down -- get out of there now!' We looked up and the mountain just spewed. He saved my life," Ray said. Dirt and boulders spilled down the hillside, hit a berm and exploded back up into a plume of earth towering 100 feet over the three friends, Ray recalled. The men sprinted down the street and turned into a second street, desperately trying to outrun the roaring mudslide. Ray said that as he ran down the street, he could see a trailer was gaining on him, pushed along by the flowing debris. "It was up in the air and turned over. The top of the trailer was coming down on me," he said. He dove into a space between two parked cars seconds before the trailer and mud overtook him, crushing the cars "down to the wheels," Ray said. In the tiny, pitch-dark crawl space, Ray realized his right leg was seriously injured -- he would later learn that a giant splinter of wood from a broken two-by-four had torn into it. The leg was numb and "I didn't know whether it was pulverized," he said. His chest was bruised, he had trouble breathing and he had lost a front tooth. 'It tears these cars up like they're toys' Rescuers found Ray within minutes, but it took three hours to dig him out, he said. During the agonizing wait, Ray snapped a photo of himself with a disposable camera. He didn't learn until Tuesday -- after surgery to repair his leg -- that his companions, Morgan and Tony Alvis, were found crushed to death in the debris. The massive mound of mud covered several blocks and stood 30 feet high in some spots. One man, Jimmie Wallett, lost his wife and three of his daughters. Wallett dug for hours in the rain around where he thought his family might be. He helped rescue two people before his wait finally ended Wednesday. His wife, Mechelle, was the first to be found. Two hours later, his youngest daughter, 2-year-old Paloma, was taken out on a stretcher. Her sister Raven, 6, was next, soon followed by 10-year-old Hannah. A distraught Wallet returned to La Conchita late Wednesday even after his family was recovered, saying he wanted to continue helping with the search. He was turned away by officers who said they feared for his safety. The scene Wednesday was of devastation. Scattered in the mud were a variety of household items, including surfboards, dish towels, golf clubs and canceled checks. A pickup truck looked like it had been in an explosion. Other cars and mobile homes were crushed. "It tears these cars up like they're toys," Los Angeles County fire Capt. Greg Cleveland said. Ray said that he was devastated by the loss, but added that he was cheered by the way La Conchita and rescue workers pulled together in crisis. "They made a really good situation -- how they helped each other," he said. "Everyone involved was just like angels." Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who visited La Conchita on Wednesday, also praised residents, saying, "It's extraordinary the way people have come together here from the moment the mudslides hit. People rushed to the aid of their neighbors, helping each other escape the danger and trying to find survivors." Ray, who has lived in La Conchita on and off for 10 years, said Wednesday he blamed an irrigated avocado farm at the top of the hillside for the mudslide's devastation. Angry homeowners sued the bluff-top ranch owner, La Conchita Ranch Co., after the 1995 mudslide, alleging the farm weakened the bluff by overwatering its avocado groves. Conchita Ranch Co. settled the suit two years later for an undisclosed amount. The county eventually put up a $400,000 retaining wall. The wall collapsed immediately under Monday's slide, but officials said it had only been intended to stop debris, not another mudslide. "My gut feeling is that my best friend died and a lot of really good people died and there was no reason for them to die," Ray said. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press All rights reserved\ Search ends in wake of California mudslide Geologists warn hillside may be moving

The Ventura County fire chief announces the end of rescue efforts in La Conchita on Thursday.

LA CONCHITA, California (CNN) -- Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks declared Thursday that the rescue mission has ended at the site of a mudslide that killed 10 people this week in the coastal community of La Conchita.

Brooks said authorities believe they have accounted for everyone involved in the mudslide that plowed through a residential neighborhood Monday in the town of 260 people about 65 miles north of Los Angeles.

The next goal will be to re-establish the community, Brooks said at an afternoon news conference.

Authorities don't want residents to return to the area yet because it is considered geologically hazardous, but Brooks said officials have no legal authority to keep people from their homes.

Earlier in the day, searchers for victims and bodies in the 30-foot pile of mud and debris stopped work after geologists warned that the hillside above the town might be moving.

Geologists painted a stripe on the hill Thursday where the mudslide had ended, officials at the scene said. A few hours later, they discovered that the line had moved almost six feet.

Authorities ordered rescue workers to stop digging and move themselves and their equipment from the site until more analyses can be done.

Before leaving the scene, the workers -- many of whom are inmates at the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility -- held an impromptu memorial service at the debris pile.

"The geologists have studied the hill," Ventura County Fire Chief Bob Roper said. "They have seen some additional areas that they have severe concerns about, and they're putting together a plan now on what to do as far as the recovery effort and allowing people to return to their homes."

Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennett urged caution.

He said geologists would conduct intensive analyses on the area's topography to determine if it's safe to continue living there. A large mudslide in 1995 also caused extensive damage in La Conchita.

Roper said the last three people remaining on the official list of the missing called authorities Wednesday night to report they were fine, and there were no bodies known to remain in the debris.

Officials have released a second list of people who had connections to the area, Roper said, hoping to rule out that they were in the community when the mudslide hit.

"We have an additional list of about 19 people that we've checked with the post office, Internet searches and so forth, that may have been getting mail or lived in the area," Roper said.

State of emergency

Mudslides across the main thoroughfare of Highway 126 have cut off Piru, another town in Ventura County, The Associated Press reported. Residents there tried to make the best of their isolation.

"It brings everyone together," Richard Aries, 42, told the AP. "We're relatively lucky -- fortunate compared to other people."

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger toured La Conchita on Wednesday, pledging to do everything possible to help residents affected by the disaster.

Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency for Ventura County, opening the door for more state funds for the region to help with damage expenses.

"In the past few days, we have seen the power of nature cause damage and despair, but we will match that power with our own resolve, and we will come together as Californians and neighbors," he said.

Schwarzenegger said he was impressed by the strength shown by the residents he spoke to during his tour.

"The first thing they said was, 'We'll be back,' " he recounted. "They said they wanted to rebuild."

The slide brought down tons of mud, sand and debris onto more than a dozen homes. Roper said 15 homes were destroyed and 16 damaged.

Bodies of mother, 3 daughters recovered

Early Wednesday morning, rescue crews pulled the bodies of a mother and her three daughters from the debris.

The father, Jimmie Wallet, had gone out to get ice cream at the time of the mudslide, an official with the Ventura County Sheriff's Department said.

Wallet assisted in the search overnight and was there when a search dog led rescue personnel to where his wife, Mechelle, and daughters Paloma, Raven and Hannah were buried in debris, according to a report by CNN affiliate KCAL. (Full story)

In all, 10 people were pulled out alive, eight of whom were taken to hospitals, Roper said. Two of them were in critical condition.

Parts of Southern California recorded nearly 2 feet of rain in the past week, prompting Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn to declare a state of emergency Wednesday.

The declaration allows the city to seek state and federal disaster aid, Hahn's office said.

Authorities blamed the weather for the deaths of more than 20 people, including the 10 in La Conchita.

The storm that caused the mudslide moved east, bringing flooding that has destroyed more homes and washed out roads in other Western states, the AP reported. (Full story)

Oddball weather could bring floods, icy quick-freeze

A mid-winter thunderstorm that dumped more than an inch of rain and melted snow Wednesday in West Michigan could cause flooding in some low-lying areas over the next three days.

That's only half the story. A blast of Arctic air headed toward Michigan today will quickly freeze any standing water left over from the heavy rains, according to the National Weather Service.

The temperature in Muskegon Wednesday peaked at 59 degrees, which surpassed the previous record of 55 degrees recorded in 1975. Added to that was a rapid-fire series of weather events that included hail, fog, torrential rain, thunder and lightning.

The thunderstorm was being blamed for a power outage in downtown Muskegon Wednesday night that left 1,400 customers in the dark for 9 hours. Left in the dark was the Amazon apartment building and Nelson Place Apartments for seniors.

The usual January offerings -- snow and ice -- will return over the next three days as temperatures plummet into the teens and freeze any water that hasn't already soaked into the ground.

"Thunderstorms in January are pretty rare, but it has happened before" said Bob Dukesherer, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Grand Rapids. "It happens about once every five to 10 years."

Heavy rainfall in the middle of winter creates a double whammy for rivers and streams, according to weather service officials. More rain drains off the land in the winter because the soil is saturated and there isn't as much vegetation to absorb the moisture. A sudden drop in temperatures can quickly freeze rivers, creating ice jams that back up water.

It's a perfect recipe for a winter flood.

The good news, according to weather service officials, is that most area rivers were not frozen before the rain Wednesday. That will reduce the risk of flooding to some degree.

"We're watching the rivers closely. We're expecting significant rises in water levels all along the Muskegon River," said Mark Walton, a weather service hydrologist. "The fly in the ointment will be the cold temperatures, which will send more runoff into the rivers."

A flood watch is in effect for all of West Michigan through Friday. The only area facing imminent flooding is Rogers Heights, near Big Rapids, where an ice jam in the Muskegon River is causing water levels to rise.

The water level in Bear Creek, in North Muskegon, was rising rapidly this morning. The creek rose one foot from Wednesday to Thursday morning, according to stream data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey.

"Bear Creek is the canary in the coal mine for flooding in the Muskegon area because it's small and responds rapidly to storm water runoff," Walton said.

Low lying areas along the Muskegon River below Croton Dam -- at Devil's Hole and Old Woman's Bend near Newaygo, and Maple Island -- are not expected to flood, Walton said. He said the ability to hold excess water in the Croton Dam reservoir will probably prevent flooding downstream of the dam.

"Consumers Energy (which owns the dam) is going to store some water for us behind the dam," Walton said. "The river is going to rise below Croton Dam, but I don't see it getting above flood stage."

Nelson Place Apartments manager Sandy Drabczyk spent the night in office on the phone to Consumers Energy.

"Every hour they told her it would be another hour before power was restored," maintenance supervisor John Sidock said.

The senior apartments at 350 Houston Avenue had been without power since lightning struck a downtown substation at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Approximately 1,400 residents and businesses in a widespread area downtown were without power until just before 8 this morning.

Sidock and janitor Wendy Carter wrestled to reboot a balky alarm system which refused to cooperate after almost nine hours without power.

As Sidock left to call off the fire department and call the alarm company, Alice Grevious trotted into the lobby clutching a flashlight and a bag of ice.

Grevious didn't know there was problem until she woke up shortly after 5 a.m.

"There wasn't a light on in the place," said Grevious. "I was running around trying to dress with a flashlight."

An unidentified early visitor opted to take the stairs up to her grandmother's fourth floor apartment, "just in case" there were problems with the elevator.

"I had to help one resident go up the stairs earlier," said Carter.

The completely drained battery packs on the computers at Borgeson Architects told Tom Aardema the Amazon building had been without power for a long time.

"The batteries are supposed to last about two hours or so," said Aardema.

The Amazon's emergency stairwell lights were the only ones visible for blocks up and down Western Avenue.

After an early taste of spring, winter arrives back in Ottawa this weekend.

Environment Canada says the temperature on Thursday hit 11 degrees, breaking the 1972 record of plus eight.

The weather office says a system from the U-S south pushed into Ontario, delivering a spring day to the province.

The temperature hit plus 18 in Toronto and 19 in the Niagara region.

Environment Canada says the temperature will drop to minus eight by Friday evening and day time highs this weekend will drop to minus 11.

The normals for this time of year is minus four.

The National Capital Commission has closed the Rideau Canal for skating due to the warm weather.

The mild weather has also shut down the NCC toboggan hills at Bruce and Conroy Pitts, as well as at Green's Creek.