Stranded motorists were pulled from cars stuck on flooded Northern California roads as thunderstorms arrived Sunday as part of a massive winter storm that could be the biggest to slam the region in more than a decade.
Crews cleared trees and debris following mudslides caused by steady rain accompanying the system that could dump 15 inches in foothill areas as it gained strength throughout the day. Several feet of snow was expected at higher elevations in the Sierra Nevada.
Authorities reported rescues in Marin and Sonoma counties, including an operation along U. S. 101 where several people were plucked from submerged vehicles. No injuries were reported.
Officials urged residents to avoid driving through standing water and to stay off rural roads, where rescues could be difficult.
All roads leading to Yosemite National Park’s valley floor remained closed amid fears that the Merced River could overflow its banks and cause major flooding.
« It’s kind of surreal how empty the park is. There’s nobody here, » said Gary Kazanjian, a freelance photographer who spent the night in Yosemite and drove out Sunday as part of a caravan of stragglers.
Authorities were watching rising water levels of several Northern California rivers, including the Cosumnes, Truckee, American and Russian.
Forecasters also warned of strong winds. A woman was killed Saturday by a falling tree on a San Francisco Bay Area golf course. Firefighters on Sunday rescued a man pinned under a toppled tree in Golden Gate Park. The homeless man had minor injuries and was taken to a hospital to be checked.
The storm surge stretching all the way from Hawaii — called an atmospheric river — comes as California enters its sixth year of drought. Each drop of rain is welcomed, but officials said several more big storms are needed to replenish depleted groundwater supplies.
The strong wet season began in October with more rain falling than in three decades, mostly in Northern California. Los Angeles, which will likely get the brunt of the latest system early Monday, is experiencing its wettest winter in six years, forecasters said.
The storm’s relatively mild temperatures will drive up the snowline to above 9,000 feet throughout the Sierra Nevada, causing runoff in the lower elevations, said Zach Tolby, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno, Nevada.
Flooding could rival the winter of 2005-06 that sent 5 feet of water into an industrial area in Sparks, Nevada. Crews worked to secure storage drums filled with hazardous materials to stop them from floating away as they have in past floods.
Another storm is forecast for Tuesday and with the ground already saturated, rain won’t seep into the soil quickly enough and extra runoff could end up in already swollen rivers and creeks, officials said.

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The four soldiers killed in Sunday’s deadly vehicular ramming attack in Jerusalem were identified as 20-year-old Lt. Yael Yekutiel of Givatayim; 22-year-old cadet Shir Hajaj of Ma’aleh Adumim who was posthumously promoted to lieutenant; 20-year-old cadet Shira Tzur of Haifa, posthumously promoted to second- lieutenant; and 20-yearold Erez Orbach of Alon Shvut, posthumously promoted to the rank of second-lieutenant.
A statement from Moshe Savile, acting head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, said that “at this moment we are all with the Orbach family. The family has been has long been engaged in public activities and unfortunately this is not the first time the extended family is dealing with pain and loss.
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A little over a year ago, Alon Shvut lost another victim to an act of terrorism, and now we are dealing with losing another member of its community to a senseless act of terror. The Gush Etzion family embraces the family.”
Hajaj was serving in the intelligence force, and was a top student at her high school in Ma’aleh Adumim. She had three sisters, one older and two younger. She will be buried at 2 p.m. on Monday in Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl military cemetery.
Sec.-Lt. Erez Orbach’s funeral will take place on Monday at 11 o’clock at the cemetery in Kfar Etzion.
The funeral of Lt. Yael Yekutiel will take place Monday at the capital’s Kiryat Shaul cemetery at 3 p.m.
The funeral of Second Lt. Shira Tzur will take place Monday at Haifa’s military cemetery at 2 p.m.
The families of Orbach and Tzur requested that their funerals be closed to the press.
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There has been an increased security presence at airports across the country this weekend after a shooting at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport left five people dead and another six people injured.
The suspected gunman, Esteban Santiago, a 26-year-old former National Guard soldier, flew from Anchorage, Alaska, connecting through Minneapolis and on to Fort Lauderdale on Friday morning with a gun legally checked in his luggage. He allegedly told the FBI that he took that gun and loaded it in a bathroom of Terminal 2 at the Fort Lauderdale airport and then opened fire in the baggage claim area.
At New York City airports, Port Authority Police deployed officers with heavy tactical weapons, positioned armored vehicles outside terminals, stepped up K-9 patrols and increased random bag checks.
In Los Angeles, police went into « high visibility mode » with officers patrolling terminals with long guns.
Boston Logan maintained a rigorous security plan, including tactical units, commercial vehicle inspections and roadway blockades.
Airports as varied in size as Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Tampa and San Diego have increased visible security on what’s called the « soft side » of the airport — those public areas before Transportation Security Administration checkpoints like check-in counters and baggage claim areas.
In the wake of terror attacks last year in those public parts of airports in Brussels and Istanbul and a shooting at a TSA checkpoint at LAX in 2013, some security experts have suggested that a consistent presence of specially trained, armed officers stationed in those areas could help.
« It could serve not only as a deterrent but also speed up response times should a situation arise such as the one that occurred in Fort Lauderdale, » John Cohen, a former counterterrorism coordinator at the U. S. Department of Homeland Security and ABC News contributor said.
The TSA’s responsibility for airport security begins and ends at the TSA checkpoint. Areas before the checkpoint are left to local authorities to patrol and secure.
« Local airport authorities should make it a priority to have uniformed law enforcement officers patrolling these nonsecured areas, » Cohen said. « These officers should be trained to recognize the behaviors of an individual who may be planning or preparing to carry out an attack and should also be trained to respond to a mass casualty attacker or active shooter. « 
Airports nationwide declined to say how long passengers could expect to see these enhanced security measures remain in place, citing security concerns.

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