California weather: 14 dead as storm threatens more major flooding - USA TODAY

LOS ANGELES — Exactly 5 years aft a devastating mudslide killed 23 people and destroyed much than 100 homes successful coastal Montecito, California, astir 10,000 residents of the Santa Barbara County assemblage and its surrounding canyons were ordered to evacuate Monday amid the downpours that proceed to lb the state.

The National Weather Service said up to 8 inches of rainfall had fallen successful 12 hours, and plentifulness much was expected. In the precocious afternoon, the service's Los Angeles bureau tweeted retired a informing astir "DANGEROUS LIFE THREATENING FLASH FLOODING'' successful Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

The canyon communities nether evacuation orders astir Montecito are beneath hillsides burned bare successful caller years by wildfires. There were besides evacuations successful the metropolis of Santa Barbara.

Showbiz personalities similar Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres and erstwhile sports stars Troy Aikman and Jimmy Connors were among the celebrities impacted by the 2018 catastrophe successful Montecito, present besides location to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

The decease toll from the onslaught of convulsive storms sweeping California rose to 14 on Monday arsenic 2 large episodes promised much devastation and up to a ft of rain. The decease toll does not see a 5-year-old lad who was swept distant by floodwaters and whose destiny remains unknown.

The upwind work warned that parts of the Sacramento area, which has been battered by precocious winds and overwhelming rains, could spot 12 inches of rain by Wednesday night.

Santa Cruz County has besides taken a large hit: Mudslides closed both southbound lanes of scenic Highway 17 and the Browns Valley Road Bridge collapsed into the tiny river beneath it.

"Two of the much energetic and moisture-laden parade of cyclones ... are aiming straight for California," the upwind work forecast said. "The cumulative effect of successive dense rainfall events volition pb to ... accelerated h2o rises, mudslides and the imaginable for large stream flooding."

The archetypal episode hit the authorities aboriginal Monday and was expected to dump up to 5 inches of rainfall connected the cardinal California coast, the upwind work said. Another, owed Tuesday, volition chiefly target locations farther southbound into Southern California.

"Flooding from Northern to Central California is expected to beryllium widespread, adjacent catastrophic successful immoderate locations astir the coastal mountains and the bluish and cardinal Sierra," AccuWeather meteorologist Joe Bauer said. He said much than a twelve monitored stream locations are forecast to beryllium supra flood stage.

President Joe Biden, citing "emergency conditions resulting from successive and terrible wintertime storms, flooding, and mudslides," declared a federal emergency precocious Sunday, ordering national assistance to supplement state, tribal and section effect efforts.

NEWSOME DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY: California Gov. Newsom asks Biden medication to state national exigency up of brutal storms

Other developments:

• The U.S. Forest Service issued an avalanche warning until Wednesday for the greater Lake Tahoe area. Parts of the eastbound Sierra Nevada are besides nether avalanche warnings.
• Residents of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara and Solano counties successful the greater San Francisco Bay Area and Monterey successful cardinal California are nether evacuation orders oregon warnings.
• Nearly 140,000 homes and businesses crossed the authorities were without powerfulness aboriginal Monday, according to the tracking website poweroutage.us.
• The Los Angeles country braced for up to 8 inches of rainfall successful foothill areas. High surf was expected done Tuesday. Wind gusts could transcend 60 mph astatine the seashore and 70 mph successful the mountains, prompting the upwind work to station a upwind advisory for portions of southwest California done 10 p.m. Monday. 

WHAT IS AN 'ATMOSPHERIC RIVER'?  These rivers of h2o vapor tin widen thousands of miles.

Vehicles submerged successful water, sinkhole swallows 2 cars successful Los Angeles

The large tempest volition impact confederate California done Tuesday and is expected to bring dense rain, damaging winds, and a flimsy accidental of thunderstorms, the upwind work successful Los Angeles warned Monday.

Widespread and important flooding is expected connected municipality roads and rivers, the upwind work said. Storm conditions volition besides origin hazardous driving conditions and imaginable powerfulness outages.

There is simply a imaginable for arsenic overmuch arsenic 8 inches of rainfall successful the Los Angeles foothill country precocious Monday and Tuesday. The upwind work besides issued precocious surf advisories on the coast.

Vehicles were seen submerged successful h2o Monday successful immoderate parts of the city. A sinkhole swallowed 2 vehicles successful the Chatsworth area, successful northeast Los Angeles, precocious Monday. Authorities said 2 radical escaped by themselves and firefighters utilized ropes and an aerial ladder to rescue two others who had insignificant injuries.

18 people rescued from Ventura River amid flash flood warning

Eighteen radical were rescued aft being trapped connected an land successful the Ventura River successful occidental Ventura County connected Monday day amid dense rainfall and flooding.

The Ventura County Fire Department reported that of the 18 victims, one person required aesculapian attraction for insignificant injuries, 7 radical were rescued utilizing a ladder, 7 others were rescued by the aerial squad and 4 radical were capable to locomotion out.

The region was deed with terrible flooding and mudslides owed to continuous dense rainfall from the latest atmospheric river. A flash flood informing was issued for each of confederate Ventura County, which is expected to past done Tuesday as another tempest beforehand moves into the country overnight.

Flash flood informing successful Santa Cruz and surroundings

The upwind service's Bay Area bureau issued a flash flood warning done 3:45 p.m. PST for Santa Cruz and surrounding communities, location to much than 260,000 radical and 75 schools. The bureau besides tweeted a video showing Highway 101 -- a large artery -- "has turned into a moving river'' and advising motorists not to thrust into flood waters. 

Evacuation orders were issued successful Santa Cruz County for astir 32,000 residents surviving adjacent rapidly rising rivers and creeks, according to Melodye Serino, the lawman region administrative officer.

Parts of the assemblage of Felton successful the Santa Cruz Mountains were inundated erstwhile the San Lorenzo River crested implicit its banks Monday morning, leaving cars partially submerged.

School teacher Nicole Beardsley, who grew up and lives successful Felton, told the San Francisco Chronicle she was heading for enactment erstwhile she came to a submerged car connected a flooded conception of roadworthy and turned around.

“I’ve ne'er seen the stream this precocious before,” Beardsley told the newspaper. “I’ve seen it travel up to the span determination and the roadworthy wasn’t drivable, but it wasn’t up this high.”

Some residents took a relaxed cognition to the turmoil.

Nicole Martin, a third-generation proprietor of the Fern River Resort successful Felton, said her clients sipped coffee, sat connected compartment porches amid towering redwood trees and were “enjoying the show” arsenic picnic tables and different debris floated down the river.

Surging waters halt hunt for lad swept distant into river

The beingness of a 5-year-old lad who was carried distant by floodwaters hung successful the equilibrium Monday aft rescuers successful cardinal California had to telephone disconnected the hunt for him around 3 p.m. erstwhile conditions connected the surging Salinas River became excessively unsafe to continue.

The boy’s parent was driving a achromatic motortruck erstwhile it became stranded successful floodwaters conscionable earlier 8 a.m. adjacent Paso Robles, according to Tom Swanson, adjunct main of the Cal Fire/San Luis Obispo County Fire Department.

Swanson said bystanders pulled the parent retired of the truck but the lad was carried retired of the conveyance by the h2o and swept downstream.

6 feet of snowfall forecast successful Sierra

The Sierra Nevada volition apt spot dense snowfall exceeding 6 feet crossed the higher elevations earlier the snowfall tapers disconnected Wednesday morning, forecasters said. The authorities Department of Transportation warned motorists to enactment disconnected upland roads aft closing a agelong of U.S. 395 successful Mono County, on the Eastern Sierra, due to the fact that of heavy snow, crystal and whiteout conditions.

Mammoth Mountain, an Eastern Sierra skis resort, already has received astir 10 feet of snow, the National Weather Service reported.

Why could the latest tempest beryllium truthful damaging?

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who had sought the national exigency designation earlier Sunday, said the death toll from astir 2 weeks of storms had reached 12. And helium warned that the worst impacts of the storms mightiness person been felt yet.

"California is successful the mediate of a deadly barrage of wintertime storms and we are utilizing each assets astatine our disposal to support lives and bounds damage," Newsom said.

AccuWeather experts accidental the unrelenting "atmospheric rivers" person saturated overmuch of the authorities and bloated rivers and streams, leaving the authorities susceptible to "extreme and historical levels" of tempest damage.

A CLOSER LOOK:Graphics amusement however the coastal authorities has been drenched

HOW AN ATMOSPHERIC RIVER DEVELOPS:Graphics amusement atmospheric stream soaking California's Bay Area

Atmospheric rivers are ribbons of h2o vapor successful the entity that tin widen thousands of miles from the tropics to the occidental U.S. At 250 to 375 miles wide, they supply the substance for monolithic rainfall and snowstorms that tin origin flooding on the West Coast.

On Sunday alone, 1 thunderstorm moving into the Sacramento portion was producing up to a half-inch of rainfall per hour.

Sacramento County struggles to recover

In the authorities capital, tens of thousands of energy customers remained without powerfulness Monday, down from much than 350,000 aft gusts of 60 mph knocked trees into powerfulness lines, according to the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. Sacramento City schools were closed Monday due to the fact that six campuses had nary electricity.

The upwind work posted a flood advisory for overmuch of the Sacramento Valley, bluish San Joaquin Valley and surrounding foothills. The Sacramento County Office of Emergency Services ordered residents of Wilton, about 20 miles southeast of downtown Sacramento, to evacuate Sunday night. Wilton is location to astir 6,000 people.

"Flooding is imminent. Out of an abundance of caution, residents indispensable permission present earlier roads go impassable," the bureau of exigency services said successful its evacuation order.

Contributing: The Associated Press