Rob Lowe says he was trapped during Santa Barbara storm trends now
The 'relentless parade of cyclones' hitting California continued overnight, and was expected to shift farther to the north, the US National Weather Service said today.
At least 19 people are known to have died in the recent series of storms that have lashed the western United States, bringing rainfall levels not seen in 150 years to some places, causing massive floods and landslides.
The death toll rose after a woman's body was found in her submerged car in Sonoma County a day after she had made a desperate 911 call and El Dorado County Sheriff's Office confirmed a man, 33, was found dead in the American River. Meanwhile, a five-year-old-boy who was swept away by floodwaters in San Luis Obispo remained missing on Wednesday.
Communities have been washed out, powerlines toppled and roads blocked by rockslides as an endless deluge pounds the Golden State. A swathe of northern California is still under a flood watch or winter weather advisory and late last night all areas along the Salinas River in Monterey County were under evacuation orders.
The 'relentless parade of cyclones' hitting California continued overnight, and was expected to shift farther to the north, the US National Weather Service said today. Pictured: Abandoned cars are left in a flooded street in east Santa Barbara
This aerial view shows a flooded neighborhood in Merced, California on January 10, 2023
'The heaviest rains are expected to impact northwestern California through the next couple of days with a few inches of rain possible,' the NWS warned.
A later advisory said the weather system would also impact other states in the Pacific Northwest through early Saturday.
That rain will come on top of weeks of downpours that have left the earth saturated, with rivers fit to burst and hillsides at risk of collapse.
At least 19 people have now died in incidents across the state linked 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 was identified as Daphne Fontino, who had a day earlier made one final desperate 911 call as her car became trapped in the floodwaters.
In the town of Aptos, near Santa Cruz, residents were picking up the pieces after being inundated.
'It's probably the worst flood that I've seen here since I've lived here, since 1984,' Doug Spinelli told AFP.
'Aptos Creek was flowing down so angrily, I thought it was going to rip out our little pedestrian walkway, and there were tree trunks being forced down the river, almost at a rate of about one every 30 seconds.
'It was amazing to watch how much debris and timber was flowing down the creek.'
California Governor Gavin Newsom, who visited weather-wrecked Capitola on Tuesday, said the relentless storms meant that even lesser downpours could be problematic.
'The number of inches of rain, and the intensity doesn't tell the entire story,' he told reporters.
'We're soaked, this place is soaked. And now just more modest amounts of precipitation could add as equal or greater impact in terms of the conditions on the ground.'
More than 35,000 homes and businesses were without power in California
