On video: at least 17 dead in floods in California (Walla system!)
Earlier this week, Lindsey Duane drove her five-year-old son, Kyle, to Lillian Larsen Elementary School in San Miguel in San Luis Obispo County, California, as she used to do every Monday.
On the way to school, where Lindsey works as a special education teacher and Kyle attends kindergarten, she passed the same intersection she used to pass countless times, her husband Brian Duane said.
Last Monday, there were no signs that anything was wrong, the road was open and there were no warning signs.
Lindsey entered the intersection, and when she realized the road was flooded, it was already too late.
The Chevrolet Traverse she was driving with her son began to drift in the flood current into the channel.
The car hit a tree and began to fill with water.
Lindsey was unable to open the back door and told her five-year-old son to unbuckle the child seat belt, move to the driver's seat and leave his belongings behind.
"Kyle was calm and trying to calm his mother down," Brian said through tears.
The two managed to get out of the car, but the current was too strong and they got separated.
Lindsay found herself near the banks of the gorge and started screaming for help.
Several property owners in the area managed to pull her out of the water with a rope - but Kyle drifted further away.
As of last night (Thursday), he is still missing.
Five-year-old Kyle (photo: official website, Facebook)
Looking for Kyle (photo: official website, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office))
The car was found upside down in the mud (photo: official website, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office))
The California National Guard joined the search for Kyle.
More than 100 members of the National Guard have already been sent to the area to assist the local sheriff, the National Guard reported.
The sheriff's office reported that divers, drones and helicopters are searching for Kyle. "My wife feels terrible that she was able to survive and he didn't," said her husband Brian. "She did the right thing by getting him out of the car.
San Miguel firefighters told me they saw the car upside down down the gully."
A woman whose car was trapped under ten feet of water was also reported dead. The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office said divers found Daphne Fontino, 43, inside her car tonight. She called the emergency services on Tuesday morning after getting stuck in the rising water, but by the time rescue crews arrived, the car was completely submerged.
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Landslides of stones and mud down the mountains (Photo: Reuters)
A sinkhole opened in the road (Photo: Reuters)
Floods in California (Photo: Reuters)
Floods in California (Photo: Reuters)
A series of continuous storms has been hitting California in recent weeks, which has witnessed huge amounts of rain - and the forecast is not positive.
More storms are on the way.
At least 40 highways were closed across California as of last night, state Department of Transportation spokesman Will Arnold told CNN.
In the past 16 days, California has received 50-70% of the amount of rain it normally receives in an entire year, according to the National Weather Service.
In some areas, mainly in the mountains near Santa Barbara, more than 90% of the annual amount fell.
At least 18 people have died from the storms in the past two weeks, and evacuations are still ongoing.
Officials in Monterey County ordered residents to evacuate their homes in the low-lying area of the Salinas River, warning them that flooding was expected and the area could turn into an island.
"We've had six storms in the last two weeks," California Lt. Gov. Eleni Konlakis said yesterday.
"It's a year's worth of weather, and we crammed it into two weeks."
Three more storms are making their way to California and are expected to hit it in the next ten days.
"This is the calm between - not before - the storms," said California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Significant rain is expected to fall in central California on Friday and spread south on Saturday.
Although the upcoming storms will not be as powerful as the storms that have hit the country so far, their cumulative effect will be significant in a country where the ground is now completely soaked and unable to absorb any more rain - causing flooding in streets and roads.
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