Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/432611
ByMarthaMendozaand Ellen Knickmeyer The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO A power- ful storm churned down the West Coast Thursday, bringing strong gales and much-needed rain and snow that caused wide- spread blackouts in North- ern California and white- outs in the Sierra Nevada. The brunt of the storm hit the San Francisco Bay Area, flooding freeways, toppling trees and keeping thousands of people home from work and school. "It's a big storm, as we expected, and it's headed south with very powerful winds and heavy rainfall," said National Weather Ser- vice meteorologist Will Pi. Strong winds felled a tree in Oregon, killing a homeless man, 40-year- old Phillip Crosby, who was sleeping on a trail. A huge gust blew down an 80-foot fir at a Santa Cruz elemen- tary school, pinning a 6th grader by the arm for 15 minutes until chain saws cut him free. "Unexpected, very un- expected," said the head of Gateway Elementary, Zach- ary Roberts, who closed the school as the boy was treated and released from a hospital. This "Pineapple Express" storm carried warm air and vast amounts of water in a powerful current stretching from Hawaii to the main- land and up into the moun- tains, where gusts up to 140 mph blew through passes, damaging homes in the Lake Tahoe area. The current left San Francisco drenched but balmy, with 60-degree tem- peratures, about 5 degrees above average for this time of year. Waves slammed onto wa- terfronts around the Bay area, ferries were bound to their docks, airplanes were grounded and many schools and businesses told people to stay home. The gusts made motor- ists tightly grip their steer- ing wheels on the Golden Gate Bridge, where manag- ers created a buffer zone to prevent head-on collisions by swerving cars. The iconic suspension bridge is engineered to swing in cross winds, so "the concern we have right now is more about vehi- cles," spokeswoman Priya David Clemens said. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. crews worked to restore power to 113,200 people, with the largest group of 66,400 in San Francisco, spokesman Jeff Smith said. The utility's online map showed lights out over thousands of square miles, from Humboldt near the Oregon border to Big Sur on the Central Coast. There were multiple ac- cidents on flooded roads, and several trees crunched cars. California's criti- cal north-south Interstate 5 thruway was closed by flooding in the northern town of Weed. "A lot of people took the day off," CalTrans spokes- man Bob Haus said. "That's a good thing." Disembarking from a ferry in San Francisco, Malcolm Oubre said some people were overreacting. "I know it's a big storm supposedly, but they're treating it like it's a hurri- cane," he said. Teenagers drove trucks through a flooded Safeway parking lot to make waves for kayakers in Healds- burg as grocery shoppers trudged through several feet of water to get sup- plies. East Coast kids revel in snow days, but clo- sures are rare on the West Coast, so Thursday's can- celled classes were a nov- elty in San Francisco, Oak- land, Berkeley, Sonoma and Santa Cruz County. Surfers welcomed big, choppy swells from the same high seas that sent towering sprays of water airborne along breakfronts in San Francisco and Mon- terey. Ski resorts in the north- ern Sierra Nevada — where schools and roads were closed by whiteout condi- tions and power outages — were hoping for three feet of snow once it all settles. Rains were expected to continue through Friday evening across much of Cal- ifornia, and some rivers and creeks were rising fast. Even so, California's farmers would need more storms this size to even be- gin to recover from a record drought. The storm was spread- ing into Southern Califor- nia, areas that have suffered wildfires were preparing for mudslides. Denise George, who sells boats in Marina Del Rey, worried mostly about the wind. "We make sure the hal- yards are secure, the can- vasses are fastened so nothing gets blown off or opened up, so yes we are battening down the hatches for sure." WEATHER State whacked by 'Pineapple Express' storm ALEXWASHBURN—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Mark Kunze of San Bruno pushes his stalled vehicle out of the flooded intersection of Airport Boulevard and Grand Avenue in South San Francisco on Thursday. Here are population estimates by the state Department of Finance for north state counties as of July 1, 2014, and the percentage change in the year up to that date. Butte 221,416 1.12percent Colusa 21,665 -0.27percent Del Norte 28,225 -0.02percent Glenn 28,628 0.30percent Humboldt 134,698 -0.07percent Lake 64,209 0.83percent Lassen 33,686 -0.22percent Mendocino 88,281 0.30percent Modoc 9,485 -0.72percent Nevada 97,808 0.44percent Placer 369,726 1.37percent Plumas 19,687 -0.53percent Sacramento 1,460,480 1.04percent Shasta 178,127 0.22percent Sierra 3,114 -0.67percent Siskiyou 45,308 0.02percent Sutter 96,712 -0.31percent Tehama 64,114 0.17percent Trinity 13,459 -0.45percent Yolo 207,212 0.52percent Yuba 73,425 0.59percent The full data set can be seen attinyurl.com/np 46y56 NORTHSTATECOUNTYPOPULATIONS over the past couple days they had contacted those who normally camp in the area and urged them to move to another location. In 2011, two people were rescued from rising waters at Spider Island. One of them returned a few days later to retrieve two dogs. The man, 36 and one of the dogs were swept away by the current and drowned. His body was discovered about three weeks later in the East Sand Slough. Island FROM PAGE 1 leave. Twelve of the state's 58 counties had more deaths than births during the year. Usually, pregnancies pick up along with the economy, but that has yet to happen among younger mothers. "There seems to be, I'm not sure, a hesitancy among younger mothers to start their families," Malson said. That could be because of lin- gering uncertainty, he said, or alternatively because young women are entering a recovering job market. Fewer residents are mov- ing out of California to other states in another sign of re- covery, while net immigra- tion from other nations re- mained relatively steady. "The economy in Cali- fornia, if it stays healthy it will draw population to the state," said Malson. "It al- ways has." Growth FROM PAGE 1 Center were displaced from an apartment complex near Walnut Street, but by 2 p.m. the authorities told those residents that water levels receded to a point where they could return home. Red Cross staff said the evacuation centers would stay open until the Office of Emergency Services shuts them down. On Thursday evening, of- ficials closed access to State Route 99E from 36E, just east of Red Bluff, to South Avenue. Motorists were told to use Interstate 5. Roads throughout Te- hama County flooded Thursday, and stretches of I5 near Corning also flooded. Many Tehama County schools were closed Thurs- day because of the storm. Red Bluff elementary schools and high schools were closed Thursday be- cause of sever weather, ac- cording to district web- sites. Antelope School Dis- trict schools were closed because of power failures, according to the district. Corning elementary and high schools were closed because of the weather, and so were schools in the Los Molinos Unified School District. Other schools throughout the county also were closed. The Tehama Campus of Shasta College was closed Thursday. About 4 p.m. Thursday, about 650 customers were without power in Tehama County, said Paul Moreno, a Pacific Gas and Electric Company spokesperson, on Twitter. The flood stage of Sacra- mento River at the Tehama Bridge was observed at 213 feet at 11 a.m. Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. The flood stage of the river is pro- jected to reach about 219 feet at 2 a.m. today. A flood stage of 219 feet could flood roads in south Tehama, according to the weather service. Many roads, including Gyle Road at Fifth Street, Gyle Road at the railroad tracks, Te- hama Vina Road at the park and C Street, west of Fifth Street, could close. The Tehama County Landfill also has closed be- cause of road conditions. It is scheduled to reopen to commercial traffic at 7 a.m. today, and at 8 a.m. for self- hauling residents. Black Butte Lake was releasing water Thursday morning. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started storm-preparation releases at 7 a.m. in anticipation of high runoff. The corps said it didn't expect any flood problems downstream in Stony Creek. Storm FROM PAGE 1 DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY CHIP THOMPSON The Sacramento River comes up across the trail at Ide Adobe State Historical Park around midday Thursday. DANNY JOHNSTON — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Supporters of Arkansas' law banning same sex marriage, top, hold a rally as a protestor waves a rainbow flag at the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark. By David Crary The Associated Press NEW YORK For years, backers of same-sex mar- riage have said more vot- ers would support it if only they could hear di- rectly from gay people with a personal stake in the issue. A new ac- ademic study bears out that hunch. In an article released Thursday by Science mag- azine, researchers from Columbia University and the University of Califor- nia-Los Angeles detail a rigorous study which found that openly gay canvassers were far more effective than straight canvassers in shifting vot- ers' views toward support for same-sex marriage. The canvassers, 22 of them gay and 19 of them straight, had similar one- on-one conversations in June 2013 with 263 indi- vidual voters in Southern California precincts that had supported a still-in- effect state ban on gay marriage. The only differ- ence was that the gay can- vassers revealed midway through the conversations — which averaged 22 min- utes in length — that they were gay and wanted to get married, but were barred from doing so. According to follow-up surveys, opinion changes produced by the straight canvassers tended to fade within a few weeks and those voters reverted to their previous views less favorable to same-sex marriage. However, the changes produced by the gay can- vassers persisted nine months later, and the change in attitude often spread to other mem- bers of the voters' house- holds who weren't part of the canvassing conversa- tions. And the magnitude of that change was signif- icant. The researchers, Columbia political science professor Donald Green and UCLA doctoral stu- dent Michael LaCour, said it was as if views typical of conservative Georgia changed to those of lib- eral Massachusetts. LaCour, the study's lead author, said he hopes to test whether a simi- lar approach of in-depth conversations could shift people's attitudes toward immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally. Green said the tac- tic might prove useful in other causes — for exam- ple, trying to shift views on abortion via a one- on-one encounter with a woman grateful she had access to a legal abortion or with a woman who re- gretted having the proce- dure The key element, Green said, would be for the can- vasser to somehow per- sonify, in a positive way, the issue at stake. There's a widespread perception that many Americans have closed themselves to competing viewpoints, Green said. "The view that comes out of this paper is much more optimistic," he said. "If you have a respectful conversation between two people, minds can be changed." However, he doubted that voters need worry about an array of polit- ical campaigns sending canvassers to their door- steps in quest for a heart- felt 20-minute conversa- tion. "Talking about this ap- proach with campaign consultants, I get noth- ing but resistance," Green said. "Quantity trumps quality in their eyes. They want to have at most a 3-minute conversation with voters, and they do not want to have a two- way conversation." On June 26, 2013, just a few weeks after the can- vassers' conversations, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down California's gay-marriage ban and or- dered the federal govern- ment to recognize same- sex marriages. Since then, due to a series of lower court rulings, the number of states allowing same- sex marriage has more than doubled to 35. "We've always known that the biggest engine of change of heart is con- versation with a gay per- son or a non-gay person who supports the freedom to marry," said Evan Wolf- son, president of the ad- vocacy group Freedom to Marry. New study: How to change minds on same-sex marriage GAY CANVASSERS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2014 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 9 A