Another wet week for California pushes drought from view for now, more rai and snow expected

SAN FRANCISCO – California remains deep in a drought, but a steady string of wet weather that is expected to continue Wednesday is making it look and feel replenished.

The latest storm arrived Tuesday, creating a chaotic evening commute in the San Francisco Bay Area that is likely to repeat itself on Wednesday morning.

Rains also arrived in Southern California and would likely intensify, with 1 and 2 inches expected at higher elevations and snow at higher than 6,000 feet.

Parts of Los Angeles County felt brief flash-flood conditions on Tuesday, with heavy downpours in Carson and Torrance that flooded streets and left about a half-dozen cars stranded. But the rains and danger ended quickly and there were no reports of any injuries.

The National Weather Service warned of possible floods in most of the Bay Area. The storm was expected to bring up to 7 inches of snow to the Central Sierra, with wind gusts of up to 45 mph possible.

The weather service said excess runoff from heavy rainfall is expected to cause ponding in highways, streets and underpasses.

"Small creeks and streams could flood quickly possibly covering roads and nearby low areas," it said.

The storms triggered fresh fears of mudslides in foothill neighborhoods that are below wildfire-scarred mountains and were swamped by debris in strong storms last week.

The state has been hit hard by rain and snow over the past week. Last week's wind and rainfall caused widespread flooding and power outages in Northern California, including in downtown San Francisco.

Another storm system came through Monday, though forecasters say this week's storms aren't nearly as powerful as the one last week.

And while the storms help, much more rain is needed to pull the state out of its severe drought, forecasters say.