An elderly woman who was trapped in her home by 10ft of snow following a storm was found dead after being left without food and electricity for two weeks.
Elinor 'Dolly' Avenatti, 93, lived alone in the mountains of Crestline, California, US, when she was discovered on Monday by a concerned neighbour who had been checking in on her.
She was left trapped in her home for nearly two weeks without electricity and food after the once-in-a-generation blizzard caught officials off-guard.
Snow piled high above many homes’ first-floor windows and residents who could get out trekked on foot to buy groceries from stores with near-empty shelves or picked up boxes of donated food at a distribution centre.
Valli Bryan Compton, Elinor's great aunt, said she doesn't blame the government for her death but believes authorities could have helped her sooner.
She told NBC: "Nobody expected that much snow. It’s hard to say it’s the government's fault or it’s the city’s fault. I just wish they could have let people go up there because we could have gotten her."
Governor Gavin Newsom declared emergencies in 13 of California’s 58 counties on March 1, including in San Bernardino County.
Many locals were left trapped after staggering amounts of snow fell in the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountain ranges in late February, where thousands of people live in wooded enclaves.
Terri Lee, a resident in the area, has been trapped inside her home for two weeks and will run out of life-saving medication by tomorrow if she's still unable to leave the house.
Her husband, who has severe arthritis in his back, is unable to move the snow which has blocked the couple's front door.
She told NBC: "It's a scary situation. We can't get out of our driveway, and we can't open the front door because the snow has piled up so high."
Terri has called a local emergency line six times pleading for help and also called 911 - but was told to contact the county.
As of yesterday, the couple had still not received help despite the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department saying they would try and escalate the case.
David Wert, the spokesman for San Bernardino County, has hit back at the complaints of residents as he claimed there is no way to make the snow instantly disappear.
He said: “We understand that people are not happy about being trapped in their home. This was really unavoidable. When you have 10 feet of snow, there is no way to make it disappear instantly.”
Terri, however, feels the county had plenty of time to prepare as the couple bought enough food for two weeks.
She added: "We were prepared with enough food for two weeks but never expected it would take so long to clear the snow."
She said the county had time to prepare and "did nothing".
Forecasters said an atmospheric river taking aim at northern and central California was expected to arrive as early as Thursday morning.
However, the San Bernardino Mountain communities were likely to be spared another major snowfall.
