California: Search continues for boy (5) who disappeared in raging floodwaters

The search has continued for a 5-year-old boy who has disappeared in raging floodwaters in Northern California, as even more rain fell on beleaguered communities.

Rescuers took advantage of breaks in the heavy rain to search for Kyle Doan, who was lost in the floods in San Luis Obispo County on Monday while on the way to his first day of kindergarten after the holiday break.

Divers on Wednesday found the body of a woman in Sonoma County whose car was trapped under water the day before. She is the 18th confirmed fatality from the storms since late December.

In Mendocino County, a 68-year-old woman died when she was struck by a tree that fell into her home as she slept, and the 37-year-old driver of a tree service boom truck was killed when his vehicle left the roadway and rolled several times, the sheriff’s department said.

While Wednesday’s deluge was relatively minor, with less rainfall and mostly contained to northwestern California, another atmospheric river was expected to drench most of the state this weekend, said Zack Taylor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center.

The parade of storms is forecast to continue, bringing even more heavy rain next week, the weather service said, adding to the record-breaking rainfall.

Downtown San Francisco recorded a phenomenal 34.5cm of rain from December 26th until Wednesday morning, while San Francisco International Airport, the city of Oakland and the city of Stockton all recorded 16-day records over the same period, the National Weather Service said.

Large stretches of central California received over half their normal annual rainfall since December 26th.

Atmospheric rivers are characterised by dense moisture funnelled into California from the tropical Pacific.

Gusts of wind were shaking trees and rainfall was consistent throughout the morning along the coast of Mendocino County, about 260km north of San Francisco. Large trees toppled and debris were left behind by a wild ocean. The toll was evident along Highway 1, with utility trucks deploying toward power outages.

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Dozens of roadways across the state were made impassable by mudslides and snow as the state’s department of transportation on Wednesday strongly urged drivers to stay off the roads until crews could clear the way.

Wind gusts have downed power lines, knocking out electricity to 54,000 homes and businesses as of Wednesday afternoon, according to data from poweroutage.us, down from nearly half a million outages over the weekend.

Many of the evacuation orders issued across the state have been rescinded, but not in the rural town of Planada in central California where neighbourhoods and businesses remained underwater.

The rain has helped alleviate but has not ended a two-decade drought. Statewide reservoir storage is only 82 per cent of average for this time of year, the state’s department of water resources said, warning that the remainder of the rainy season could underperform and result in a lower than average rainfall year. - Reuters

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