PALO ALTO, Calif. — A protracted series of storms is belting California and Nevada with heavy rains, powerful winds, and snowfall amounting to 11 feet in the Sierra Nevada mountains between the two states.

“It’s been just ridiculous the amount of snow we’ve been getting for the last four days,” a spokesman for the Kirkwood Mountain Resort near South Lake Tahoe, Calif., Daniel Pistoresi, said. “It’s a little over 11 feet, and it’s still coming.”

The resort was open yesterday, but getting there was a challenge. One of the main approach roads was closed for much of the day after an avalanche intentionally triggered by a road maintenance team let loose more snow than anticipated. Still, the blockbuster storm was welcomed by resorts that have suffered through a couple of dry years.

“Now, we’re basically set for the season,” Mr. Pistoresi said. He said the biggest problem was not the sheer quantity of snow, but high winds that repeatedly blew drifts onto roads and forced the closure of lifts at many resorts. “Let’s just say it’s better when it’s snowing vertically as opposed to horizontally,” he said.

On Friday, a wind gust of 165 miles an hour was reported along a mountain ridge near Lake Tahoe. “Put that into hurricane terms, and it’s greater than a Category Five,” a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno, Nev., Rhett Milne, said. He said the winds died down somewhat yesterday, though gusts of close to 100 miles an hour were recorded in the same area. “It’s definitely an impressive storm,” Mr. Milne said.

In Fernley, Nev., about 3,500 residents were driven from their homes after a levee break sent a wall of water rushing through the town. Mr. Milne said the rainfall set a record, but the levee system should have been able to handle it. Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency were set to conduct a damage assessment by air yesterday, but local officials said the water was receding after a temporary repair was made to the levee.

A utility company based in Northern California, Pacific Gas and Electric, said almost 2 million of its 5 million customers lost power at some time during the storm and that about 220,000 were still without power as of midday yesterday. “We’ve had more than 500 miles of power line damaged or down from here to San Diego,” a spokesman, David Eisenhauer, said from the firm’s headquarters in San Francisco. He said crews from as far away as Montana were working to get customers back on line by midweek, but two smaller storms expected this week could cause problems. “More snow is expected, and we’re already having access issues, particularly in the Santa Cruz and northern Sierra,” Mr. Eisenhauer said.

The storm was blamed for two deaths in southern California and one in Oregon. In addition, a hiker, several skiers, and snowmobile enthusiasts were reported missing in Southern California and Colorado.

Slippery conditions seem to have contributed to a 17-car pileup reported Saturday afternoon on Interstate 80 in Nevada. Several injuries were reported, and the roadway was closed for a few hours.

“We had miles and miles of power lines just snapped off 5 feet above the ground like matchsticks,” a spokesman for Glenn County, Calif., Nip Boyes, said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” The widespread power outages led to some near-tragedies as residents used candles and portable lanterns.

Near Willows, Calif., members of a Hmong family suffered carbon monoxide poisoning Saturday morning after apparently using a gas-fired lantern indoors. Seven of 13 people living in the home showed signs of poisoning by the odorless gas, and two were essentially unresponsive. One boy in the family reportedly woke others after hearing one of his sisters collapse in a bathroom. “Why everybody in that house didn’t die — it’s just a miracle,” Mr. Boyes said.