STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Some southern Californians have been stranded for more than a week by snow. A blizzard buried homes and roads in the San Bernardino Mountains. And today, the town of Crestline may finally get some help.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Some snow-covered roads are clearing so residents like Steve Lucarelli (ph) can get a break.
STEVE LUCARELLI: I think a lot of people are under the impression that we're just having a good time with the snow. And that's just simply not the case. It's not fun. It's pretty dire. We need more people here helping.
INSKEEP: Paul Solo (ph) also lives in Crestline.
PAUL SOLO: So many of the residents up here are frustrated at the response to the storm.
INSKEEP: He told us he was out of fresh food and that some of his neighbors need medicine.
SOLO: We're really in bad shape up here.
MARTÍNEZ: Steve Lucarelli says Crestline's only grocery store closed after snow crushed the roof.
LUCARELLI: We've lost our tire store. Our Ace Hardware store is damaged. And then several other businesses had roof collapses. A house at the end of our street actually folded like a house of cards under the weight of the snow.
MARTÍNEZ: And now he's worried about his own roof.
LUCARELLI: We've noticed some stress cracking on our walls. So I've been up on the roof trying to remove about five feet of snow that's accumulated up there to get that weight off.
INSKEEP: Wow, five feet of snow on the roof. Paul Solo says there's only so much that he and his neighbors have been able to do.
SOLO: Frankly, the snow is so much, I've broken two shovels. I mean, imagine how much you have to shovel snow for you to physically break a shovel. And I've broken two this week.
MARTÍNEZ: Wow. Though conditions should improve, other parts of the California mountains could face added snow later this week.
(SOUNDBITE OF ENDLESS DIVE'S "ATOMS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
