Battered coastline, flooding rivers trap residents, bring misery in Santa Cruz County – Los Angeles Times

Powerful storm waves roll into Seacliff State Beach on Thursday between the Cement Ship and the heavily damaged pier © 2023 Shmuel Thaler - Santa Cruz Sentinel

On Monday, as huge swaths of Central and Northern California were still assessing damage from a quick succession of storms last week, another winter rain pelted the region, triggering floods that claimed the life of a motorist and swept away a 5-year-old boy who was trying to cross a road with his mother. Conditions were so unsafe Monday afternoon that officials called off the search for the boy…