California Flooding

Students Cindy Valenzuela, right, and Mandy Jennings play in a muddy field at Woodward Park in Fresno, Calif., during a break in a rain storm, Feb. 25, 2004. A strong Pacific storm soaked much of the state with rain and snow, leaving residents and emergency crews on alert for flash floods and mudslides.

Pedistrians walk past a tree that had fallen on a parked car in downtown Sacramento, Calif., Feb. 25, 2004. No one was in the car, and no one was injured when the tree crashed down on the rear passenger compartment.

Josh Pino, principal building inspector for the city of Sacramento, uses a walkie-talkie to discuss a tree that has fallen into a home, Feb. 25, 2004. Heavy rains and high wind caused the 85-foot tall elm tree to crash into a front bedroom of the home of Lucy Guajardo who, according to the Sacramento Fire Department, was in another room and was not injured.

Members of the Eliopoulos family gingerly walk past their car, which had been swept on top of another car by flood waters, Feb. 25, 2004, in Daly City, Calif. Cars parked in driveways and at the curb were swept down the street, homes were flooded and mud covered everything.

An unidentified man carries a young boy across a deep river of water that closed the intersection of Ceasar Chavez and Mission Street, Feb. 25, 2004, in San Francisco.

Michigan resident Nancy Allcroft walks with an umbrella in the rain past a storefront decorated with rubber ducks in Sausalito, Calif., Feb. 25, 2004.

Traffic makes its way through heavy rain along Highway 101 in Corte Madera, Calif., Feb. 25, 2004.

Steve Killian, right, and his son, Michael, both of Napa, Calif., walk to get a closer look at a 40-foot wall of water created at the end of an overflow spillway on Lake Hennessey into a creek feeding the Napa River, Feb. 25, 2004, in Rutherford, Calif. The river had been under flood warning most of the day after a powerful winter storm swept through Northern California.

Police officer Gino De Nardi clears a drain from the back of a merchant's pickup truck, Feb. 25, 2004, in Oakland, Calif.

A house in the Montclair Hills section of Oakland, Calif., shows damage after heavy rains and high winds caused this tree to fall on it, Feb. 25, 2004. No one was injured.

Ashley Goulart, 11, a Catherine Everett Elementary School safety patrol, shields herself from the wind and rain, Feb. 25, 2004 in Modesto, Calif.

The Golden Gate Bridge is seen through a car window on a rainy day in San Francisco, Feb. 25, 2004. A powerful winter storm swept through Northern California, flooding streets, clogging traffic and leaving tens of thousands of people without power.

San Jose Department of Transportation employee Al Saenz stands up to his knees in water while checking a flooded intersection in San Jose, Calif., Feb. 25, 2004. Crews were out draining the rain water from flooded streets.

Two snowboarders depart after a tough day in blizzard condtions at Boreal Mountain Playground near Truckee, Calif., Feb. 25, 2004. Lake Tahoe-area ski resorts were being pounded by a huge winter storm, with several new feet of snow expected.

Truckers stop to chain up on Interstate 80 at Truckee, Calif., Feb. 25, 2004, before heading up over Donner Summit. The Lake Tahoe region was pounded with the biggest storm since December, bringing several feet of snow to area ski resorts.

Julianne Taylor, right, leads her daughter Julia through the snow as the two leave Boreal Mountain Playground, Feb. 25, 2004, near Truckee, Calif. The two were with their family from Antioch, Calif., and had been skiing and snowboarding before the snow forced them to head home.

The ski museum at Boreal Mountain Playground is obscured by blizzard conditions that hammered the Lake Tahoe region of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, Feb. 25, 2004. Ski areas had a difficult time staying open but expected several feet of new snow.

Kevin Bradley and his wife Denise, of Petaluma, Calif., were among the few who ventured out into the storm at Boreal Mountain Playground near Truckee, Calif., Feb. 25, 2004.