LOS ANGELES — Record rains on New Year’s Eve breached three levees along the Cosumnes River near Sacramento and left tens of thousands of Californians without power Sunday.
Flash flooding along Highway 99 and other roads south of Sacramento submerged dozens of cars near Wilton, where the water poured over the levees. Search and rescue crews in boats and helicopters scrambled to pick up trapped motorists.
“I don’t want to use the term apocalyptic, but it’s ugly,” Sacramento County spokesman Matt Robinson said by phone from a stretch of Highway 99 that he described as a vast lake following the three levee overflows. “We have a lot of stuck cars.”
