Dozens Trapped Above Lake Elsinore in Ortega Highway Snow Storm

>> UPDATE: Search and Rescue Crews Help Stranded Ortega Highway Drivers; Road Remains Closed

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Amid a cold storm, several vehicles became stranded on an interstate freeway and a state highway in southwest Riverside County, authorities said Wednesday.

The storm trapped vehicles on Ortega (74) Highway and the Temecula Valley (15) Freeway in Murrieta, according to the California Highway Patrol online incident log and a CHP dispatcher in San Diego.

As of midmorning Wednesday, about three dozen vehicles— some with people in them— were stuck and awaiting rescue at State Route 74, the Ortega Highway, in eastern Orange County. They had been there since late Tuesday.

Caltrans closed Ortega Highway through the Cleveland National Forest at 10:17 p.m. Tuesday. The dispatcher said that by then, vehicles were already stranded on the highway.

“There’s a lot, but I don’t know how many,” the dispatcher said Tuesday night. “It’s like an emergency situation now.”

Snow made the Ortega Highway treacherous and impassable starting at about 10 p.m. Tuesday, said California Highway Patrol Officer Denise Quesada.

The winding two-lane road tops out at about 3,300 feet in elevation between San Juan Capistrano and Lake Elsinore. The closure affected about 20 miles of highway between Nichols Roads, near San Juan Capistrano, and Grand Avenue at Lake Elsinore.

Helicopters and search and rescue crews where checking Wednesday the mountain route to determine which vehicles were occupied and which were not, Quesada said.

No medical emergencies have been reported, she added.

Overnight, a videographer on the Orange County side of Ortega Highway described whiteout conditions, along with rocks and large boulders on the road.

A stranded driver requesting help on Avenida La Cresta in Wildomar Tuesday night referred to the conditions as “blizzard-like” in a report cited on the CHP online incident log.

Parts of Interstate 15 were closed overnight due to snow, with some truckers being trapped on the shoulders, but all lanes were reopened by about 5:30 a.m., according to Caltrans.

— City News Service contributed to this report.

Image via Shutterstock.