Hundreds rescued from California floods
Rescuers have steered boats full of people, some with babies and pets, from a San Jose neighbourhood inundated by water from an overflowing creek.
At least 225 residents were taken to dry land and rinsed with soap and water to prevent them being sickened by floods that had travelled through engine fuel, garbage, debris and over sewer lines.
Residents went door-to-door searching for people who needed to leave the neighbourhood and only residents who could prove they had been cleaned of the floods were allowed to board buses to shelters.
"This is like once-in-a-lifetime," said Bobby Lee, 15, of the water around him.
He was rescued with his brother and parents, who took clothes, electronics and some photos from their home in a neighbourhood that ended up littered with submerged cars.
The rains were the latest produced by storms generated by so-called atmospheric rivers that dump massive quantities of Pacific Ocean water on California after carrying it aloft from as far away as Hawaii.
The latest downpours swelled waterways to flood levels and left about half the state under flood, wind and snow advisories.
The water level rose at Lake Oroville for the first time since authorities ordered an evacuation of 188,000 people more than a week ago after a damaged spillway caused major flooding concerns.
The rains have saturated the once-drought stricken region and wreaked havoc for residents hit hard by the storms.
At least four people have died in the storms throughout the state in the past week.
The storm system began to weaken on Tuesday, the National Weather Service says, and dry weather is expected to return to the region on Wednesday.
