A 5-year-old boy was swept away in floodwaters as another powerful storm battered California on Monday, according to local media and the Associated Press.
A search for the boy was reportedly called off after seven hours because of dangerous water levels.
The boy's mother was driving a truck around 7:50 a.m. near San Miguel, a central town roughly 35 miles inland from the coast. The vehicle became stranded in floodwaters while trying to cross a river, said Travis Craig. chief of the Cal Fire San Luis Obispo County Fire battalion, in a video interview with local media.
The mother escaped the truck with the help of bystanders, but the boy was swept downstream. A flash flood warning was later issued for the region.
NPR did not receive responses to a request for confirmation from local authorities, including Cal Fire and California Highway Patrol.
A search for the boy, which involved 17 firefighters, professional divers and a helicopter uncovered only his shoe, local media reported. He has not yet been declared dead.
More than 200,000 residents are without power
Elsewhere in the state, two people were killed by falling trees on Monday, causing the collective death toll from the recent storms to climb to 14, according to the Associated Press.
As of Tuesday morning, more than 200,000 residentswere without power after high wind speeds sent trees crashing into power lines. School districts across the state closed as creeks overflowed, transforming roads into rivers riddled with debris.
Some regions of the drought-stricken state saw rainfall rates as high as 1 inch per hour on Monday, the National Weather Service said.
Evacuation orders underway in Montecito and Santa Cruz
More than 10,000 people are under evacuation orders in the wealthy enclave of Montecito, home to celebrities like Oprah and Prince Harry.
Scars from recent wildfires still streak the community's surrounding canyons. Monday's evacuation orders came on thefifth anniversary of a mudslide that killed 23 people in the region.
Comedian and Montecito resident Ellen DeGeneres posted videos of the damage to social media, saying she was told to shelter in place given her house is on higher ground.
"This is crazy," she says, pivoting the camera to show rushing water. "This creek next to our house never overflows, ever. It's probably about nine feet up and it's going to go another two feet up."
Montecito is under mandatory evacuation. We are on higher ground so they asked us to shelter in place. Please stay safe everyone. pic.twitter.com/7dv5wfNSzG
— Ellen DeGeneres (@EllenDeGeneres) January 9, 2023
In Los Angeles, four people escaped after a sinkhole swallowed two cars on Monday night, local media reported. Another sinkhole in Santa Barbara caused a road closure impacting 500 homes.
In Santa Cruz County, 250 miles to the north, roughly 32,000 residents were ordered to evacuate after the San Lorenzo River was declared at flood stage. Photos from the area showed homes and cars peeking out like islands from muddy brown water.
President Biden issued an emergency declaration on Monday to bring federal support to relief efforts in more than a dozen counties.
More storms expected on Tuesday and Wednesday
This week marks the third in a row that relentless storms have battered the coastal state. Nearly all of California has seen average rainfall totals 400-600% above their average values, the National Weather Service said.
The NWS is still warning of a relentless onslaught of atmospheric rivers, which are likely to bring another bout of rain to Southern California on Tuesday.
Los Angeles could see as much as 7 inches. The Bay Area should prepare for high wind speeds and pea-sized hail.
Another deluge is expected to hit the Northern parts of the state on Wednesday, with snowfall in the Sierra Nevada mountains increasing the risk of avalanches, the NWS says.
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