Northern California braced for more downpours on Wednesday as southern and central regions of the state got a break from torrential rains and prepared for another strong system just days in the offing.
Flood alerts still impacted about 5 million Golden State residents on Wednesday, though that’s down from about 30 million on Tuesday.
The heaviest rains on Wednesday were expected to fall on northern and coastal regions of the state. More than 2 inches is expected to fall on wine country Santa Rosa and the Mendocino community of Ukiah.
Up to an inch might fall Wednesday on San Francisco, but the biggest threat to the Bay Area will come from high winds between 15 mph and 30 mph, with some gusts reaching 55 mph.
Heavy rains and high winds contributed to a large tree crashing on a city bus on Sutter Street in downtown San Francisco on Monday.
Several key roadways in Santa Cruz County remained closed on Wednesday.
And rescuers in San Luis Obispo County resumed their search on Wednesday for 5-year-old Kyle Doan, who was swept away by fast moving water on Monday.
The boy’s mother Lindsy Doan was driving him to kindergarten on Monday when their car reached a flooded dip in the road.
“So when I went into the dip I realized that I had made a mistake because it was filled on the bottom and my car started to drift and it drifted and crashed into two trees,” Doan told NBC Los Angeles.
After their car came to a standstill, the mother wanted her child to come out the driver’s side door and that’s when waters took him away.
“He came toward me and the currents were so strong that when I tried to hold his hand (with) my hand wrapped around the tree and then the current pulled him away from me,” the mother said.
“Kyle was drifting down the river and I could see his head bobbing on the top of the river.”
More fortunate Californians on Wednesday were able to venture outside for the first time in days to survey damage and clear toppled trees.
A major system is forecast to hit almost all of coastal California, from the Oregon border to Los Angeles late Friday afternoon or evening.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
