California deluge forces mass evacuations, boy swept away
Source: AP
By CHRISTOPHER WEBER and STEFANIE DAZIO today
LOS ANGELES (AP) — As another powerful storm walloped California, a 5-year-old boy was swept away by floodwaters Monday on the state’s central coast and an entire seaside community that is home to Prince Harry, Oprah Winfrey and other celebrities was ordered to evacuate on the fifth anniversary of deadly mudslides there.
Tens of thousands of people remained without power, and some schools closed for the day. Streets and highways transformed into gushing rivers, trees toppled, mud slid and motorists growled as they hit roadblocks caused by fallen debris. The death toll from the relentless string of storms climbed from 12 to 14 on Monday, after two people were killed by falling trees, state officials said.
A roughly seven-hour search for the missing boy turned up only his shoe before officials called it off as water levels were too dangerous for divers, officials said. The boy has not been declared dead, said spokesperson Tony Cipolla of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office.
The boy’s mother was driving a truck when it became stranded in floodwaters just before 8 a.m. near Paso Robles, a small city inland from California’s central coast, according to Tom Swanson, assistant chief of the Cal Fire/San Luis Obispo County Fire Department.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/california-flooding-Montecito-evacuation-order-7c151eeaf3f567a125d74245173327f1?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_01
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Expense: Definitely! None of the other issues come into play for someone without significant resources unless one has lived here a long time and bought a home eons ago. Even then, so many of my friends had to cash out and move as I’m on the verge of likely having to do.
Heat: a/c is rare in my area as it just doesn’t get hot more than a couple of weeks/yr and then a fan brings it down. Average temps in summer are low 70’s. Temps plummet at night. I don’t know anyone who has a/c here.
Rolling blackouts: I’ve had 1-2 that lasted a few hours but with our mild temps the only inconvenience was that my Tivo failed to record 
Drought: Real concern, and don’t leave out resulting fires. Those are wicked terrifying. I’ve lived here 45 years with no wildfires to speak of until a few years ago and they were due to drought. We had dry lightning one night with thousands of hits and it started a lots of fires in the region.
Earthquakes: Very few deaths from earthquakes, even from the large ‘89 Loma Prieta one I was in. They’re emotionally rattling for sure.
Every area has its plusses and minuses. As I think of where I might move, I’m stuck! There are so many advantages to living here that if my resources were in better shape, no way would I even |entertain leaving.
