Sharjah24 - AFP: On Wednesday, a massive storm gyrating off the coast of California was pouring rain, posing a threat of more floods and landslides in the already sodden state.
At least 18 people are known to have died in the parade of storms that have lashed the western United States, bringing rainfall levels not seen in 150 years to some places.
Communities have been washed out, powerlines toppled and roads blocked by rockslides as an endless deluge pounds the Golden State.
On Wednesday a swathe of northern California was under a flood watch or winter weather advisory.
"The heaviest rains are expected to impact northwestern California through the next couple of days with a few inches of rain possible," the National Weather Service warned.
That rain will come on top of weeks of downpours that have left the earth saturated, with rivers fit to burst and hillsides at risk of collapse.
In the town of Aptos, near Santa Cruz, residents were picking up the pieces after being inundated.
"It's probably the worst flood that I've seen here since I've lived here, since 1984," Doug Spinelli told AFP.
"Aptos Creek was flowing down so angrily, I thought it was going to rip out our little pedestrian walkway, and there were tree trunks being forced down the river, almost at a rate of about one every 30 seconds.
"It was amazing to watch how much debris and timber was flowing down the creek."
California Governor Gavin Newsom, who visited weather-wrecked Capitola on Tuesday, said with a seemingly endless stream of storms coming in from the Pacific Ocean, even lesser downpours could prove problematic.
"The number of inches of rain, and the intensity doesn't tell the entire story," he told reporters.
"We're soaked, this place is soaked. And now just more modest amounts of precipitation could add as equal or greater impact in terms of the conditions on the ground."
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