California weather: Storm death toll rises to 16 as flooding, mudslides prompt evacuations
LOS ANGELES -- More rain is dropping across California on Tuesday, threatening more flooding and disruption as part of a parade of storms that have forced thousands to evacuate and prompted dozens of rescues in recent days and left more than 16 dead in recent weeks.
More than 20 million people across California are under flood alerts as the risk of mudslides also spreads to the Los Angeles and San Diego areas.
Further north, in San Francisco, a flash flood warning was issued until 3:30 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. The warning, which covers about a million people, comes as strong thunderstorms move onshore, bringing with them heavy rain, powerful winds and hail.
Across central California, weather service officials had received more than two dozen reports of strong winds by Tuesday afternoon as the rain moved in.
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Tuesday's rain is part of a wave of atmospheric rivers -- long, narrow regions in the atmosphere that can transport moisture thousands of miles -- that have thrashed the West Coast in the last several weeks. The storms have led to dangerous flooding and mudslides and prompted evacuations across the state, with much of California getting rainfall totals that are 400% to 600% above average in that time.
Several more inches of could fall across much of the state Tuesday, after 2 to 7 inches fell over 24 hours ending Monday night across much of the state's lower elevations. It was wetter in the mountainous areas of Southern California, where more than a foot of rain fell from Sunday to early Tuesday, particularly along the Ventura and Santa Barbara County mountains.
The greatest threat for new flooding Tuesday is in the mountains just east of Los Angeles, where 2 to 4 more inches of rain could fall.
"Today's heavy rain will further exacerbate ongoing flooding while prolonging the risk of ... mudslides," the Weather Prediction Center said Tuesday, no small threat for California soil already scarred by historic drought and devastating wildfires.
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From north to south in the Golden State this week, flooding, mudslides or threats thereof have led to evacuations, road closures and desperate rescues. On Monday, trees crashed down, homes lost power and major roadways were turned into rivers or otherwise closed as storms unleashed powerful winds and heavy downpours.
In Santa Cruz County just southwest of San Jose, Rachel Oliveria stayed home Monday as water from a nearby river rose and flooded her residence.
"It just came really quick," Oliveira said. "Within a matter of minutes, it was from across the street all the way into our yard, and it went really fast."
A wrap of recent developments:
Driver killed: On California's central coast, a driver died Monday afternoon after entering a flooded roadway in Avila Beach, roughly a 180-mile drive northwest of Los Angeles, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office said. As of Monday afternoon, at least 14 people in California have died because of recent storms -- "more lives than wildfires in the past two years combined," Gov. Gavin Newsom's office said Monday.
Child missing: A 5-year-old was swept away by floodwaters Monday morning near the Salinas River in San Miguel, about a 215-mile drive northwest of Los Angeles, authorities said. An hourslong search for the child was suspended Monday afternoon "because the weather had become too severe and it was not safe anymore for first responders," San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Tony Cipolla told CNN.
Two motorists killed: In interior California's San Joaquin Valley, a tree fell on a pickup truck on State Route 99 in Visalia early Tuesday, killing the driver and leading to the death of a motorcyclist who crashed into the tree, the California Highway Patrol said. That brings the state's death toll in recent storms to at least 16, including the 14 that Gov. Gavin Newsom's office announced Monday evening.
Child missing: A 5-year-old boy was swept away by floodwaters Monday morning near the Salinas River in San Miguel, about a 215-mile drive northwest of Los Angeles, authorities said. An hourslong search for the child resumed Tuesday morning after a suspension for poor weather conditions Monday afternoon.
Montecito evacuated:
