Jan. 10 (UPI) -- The death toll from severe winter weather in California continued to rise Tuesday, with Gov. Gavin Newsom stating at least 17 people have died and warning more deaths are expected as storms are forecast to continue for at least another week.
The Democratic governor announced the death toll during a press conference after having surveyed areas of Santa Cruz County damaged by the series of atmospheric rivers that have battered California since last month.
The death toll climbs from 14 announced on Monday, and includes two people who died early Tuesday in a crash along a highway in Tulare County, Calif.
A search was also underway for a young child who was swept away in floodwaters Monday near Paso Robles.
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"We have a young 5-year-old that is missing, and we just pray," Newsom said. "If you have any faith, it's at moments like this that we pray for a miracle."
Some 34,000 people were under evacuation orders as of mid-day Tuesday, though that number was announced by Newsom as Santa Barbara County canceled all of its evacuation orders at about 2 p.m. PST.
Tens of thousands had been forced from their homes because of rising water levels. More than 7 million people were under a flash-flood watch near Los Angeles late Monday.
The National Weather Service issued a flash-flood warning for the San Francisco area Tuesday.
Power remained out for 100,000 people as of 6 p.m. PST Tuesday, poweroutage.us reported.
Photos from the state show debris littered across streets, where water levels have climbed above wheel wells of emergency vehicles.
Up to 4 feet of debris and mud had covered a main street in Studio City, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.
And the storm is far from over. Between 2 and 4 inches of rain was expected to fall in valleys and coastal parts of the state, with up to 10 inches on the mountains. And the state, overall, is anticipating additional storms that are forecast to come in from the Pacific Ocean in the days ahead.
Newsom said parts of California were still experiencing its sixth atmospheric river, which is long, narrow region in the atmosphere that transports moisture from the tropics and can drop large amounts of precipitation on landfall.
California has been in the midst of a protracted drought when this series of storms first began to hit the state last month, causing flooding, mudslides and landslides.
Newsom on Tuesday warned that the storms are expected to persist until Jan. 18.
"We're not out of the woods," he said. "We expect a minimum three more of these atmospheric rivers in different shapes and forms depending on different parts of the state."
Rainfall levels across California are between 400% to 600% above average, according to the National Weather Service.
