The sinkhole swallows cars and floodwaters flood towns and wash away a boy as the US state of California is ravaged by more wild winter weatherwhile the next storm in a powerful sequence looms over the horizon.
Millions of residents faced flood warnings, nearly 50,000 people were evacuated and more than 110,000 homes and businesses lost power on Tuesday because of heavy rain, lightning, hail and landslides.
Governor Gavin Newsom said at least 17 people had died from the storm that began late last month.
The storm that started Monday dumped more than 45 centimeters (one and a half feet) of rain into the mountains of Southern California and buried the Sierra Nevada ski resorts in more than 1.5 meters (five feet) of snow.
Rockslides and landslides clog roads, and fast currents turn highway sections into waterways.
Rising rivers flooded homes and residents of small communities flooded with water and trapped mud.
The torrential water flooded the banks of Bear Creek and flooded parts of nearby Merced and Planada, a small farming community along the highway leading to Yosemite National Park.
Neighborhoods were submerged in water with cars flooded to the roof.
The residents were ordered to evacuate carrying whatever they could pick up on their backs as they left in the rain.
