By Chris Jewers For Web and Afp
The “relentless parade of hurricanes” that hit California continued overnight and is expected to continue moving north, the US National Weather Service said today.
At least 19 people are known to have died in the recent series of storms that swept the western United States, bringing in some places rainfall not seen in 150 years and causing massive flooding and landslides .
The death toll rose after a woman’s body was found in her submerged car in Sonoma County a day after she made a frantic call to 911, and the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office confirmed a 33-year-old man was dead in the car American River was found. Meanwhile, a five-year-old boy went missing Wednesday after being swept away by floodwaters in San Luis Obispo.
Communities were washed away, power lines down, and roads blocked by falling rocks as an endless deluge swept through the Golden State. A portion of Northern California is still under flood surveillance or winter weather warnings, and last night all areas along the Salinas River in Monterey County were under evacuation orders.
The “relentless parade of hurricanes” that hit California continued overnight and is expected to continue moving north, the US National Weather Service said today. Pictured: Abandoned cars are left on a flooded street in east Santa Barbara
This aerial view shows a flooded neighborhood in Merced, California on January 10, 2023
“The heaviest rainfall is expected to hit northwestern California over the next few days, with a possibility of a few inches of rain,” the NWS warned.
A later recommendation said the weather system would also affect other Pacific Northwest states by early Saturday.
This rain will come on top of weeks of downpours that have saturated the earth, with rivers at risk of bursting and hillsides at risk of collapsing.
At least 19 people have now died in incidents statewide related to the extreme weather, with the number rising after the body of a 43-year-old woman was found in a submerged car in Sonoma County.
The woman has been identified as Daphne Fontino, who made a last-ditch 911 call a day earlier when her car was caught in the floodwaters.
In the town of Aptos, near Santa Cruz, residents picked up the debris after it was flooded.
“It’s probably the worst flooding I’ve seen here in my life, since 1984,” Doug Spinelli told AFP.
“Aptos Creek flowed down so furiously I thought it would rip up our little sidewalk and logs were being blown down the river almost every 30 seconds.
“It was amazing to see the amount of debris and wood flowing down the creek.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who visited the weather-battered Capitola on Tuesday, said the unrelenting storms meant even lighter downpours could be problematic.
“The number of inches of rain and the intensity doesn’t tell the whole story,” he told reporters.
“We are soaked, this place is soaked. And now, just more modest rainfall amounts could have the same or greater impact on local conditions.’
More than 35,000 homes and businesses were without power in California early Thursday, according to tracking site Poweroutage.us, and there was tragedy across the state.
A five-year-old boy who disappeared in floodwaters in San Luis Obispo was still missing on Wednesday. Lindsay Doan was driving son Kyle to school on Monday morning when the family car was washed into flood water.
Lindsay Doan was driving five-year-old son Kyle (pictured) to school on Monday morning when the family car was washed up in flood water. He has yet to be found by rescuers
Pictured: A rescue team searches for 5-year-old Kyle Doan, who was swept away by raging floodwaters, on January 11, 2023 in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States
She managed to get out of the vehicle but was unable to open Kyle’s door.
“He was calm. He tried to say, “Keep calm mom,” said the boy’s father, Brian Doan, according to the Los Angeles Times. “She did her best.”
When she finally got him out of the car, they were separated by the current.
Local residents pulled her out of the water, but Kyle had been washed into the creek. “My wife feels very awful surviving this and not him,” said Brian Doan.
‘She did the right thing to get him out of the car. San Miguel Fire told me they saw the car pull away and be pushed upside down into the creek.’
However, he was unequivocal that his wife had done nothing wrong.
“She made the best decisions she could,” Doan said. “I have to keep emphasizing that. She couldn’t stay in the car with him. The currents would later overwhelm the car… They got out. That was the right thing.’
After the search was suspended again Wednesday due to poor visibility, Doan admitted he’s prepared for the worst.
‘I’ve seen enough, you know. It’s tough,” Doan said.
“You know what the odds are. And as much as people try to be optimistic – and I support my wife – it’s hard. The first night was pretty damn tough – I was like, ‘Oh my god, why couldn’t they find him already?’
Kyle Doan is said to have dirty blonde hair, hazel eyes, 4 feet tall and about 52 pounds. He was last seen in a black down jacket with a red lining, blue jeans and blue/grey Nike tennis shoes.
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff said they were still searching for the child, including with underwater teams. “We will search until we find him,” spokesman Tony Cipolla told the San Luis Obispo Tribune.
This aerial view shows a flooded neighborhood in Merced, California on January 10, 2023
Storm debris lays on the beach near a sand covered parking lot in an aerial view January 10, 2022 in Aptos, California
According to a tally by the LA Times, the 18 confirmed dead in the state include drivers found in submerged cars, people hit by falling trees, a husband and wife killed in a rockfall and people whose bodies found in floods.
Winter storms are not uncommon in California, where most of the annual rain usually occurs over a relatively short period of time.
But the current systems – which have brought more rain to San Francisco in two weeks than at any time since 1866 – are vicious.
Scientists say global warming caused by human activity is making weather events more extreme, with more violent storms and more severe droughts.
Despite the misery, the storms, which are expected to pound California for another week, are bringing rain to a part of the country that badly needs it after more than two decades of drought.
But even the vast amounts of water that fall are not enough to replenish depleted reservoirs and aquifers.
Shasta Lake, the state’s largest reservoir, was still at only two-thirds of its historical average as of early January, data from the Department of Water Resources showed.