A 5-year-old boy who vanished after he and his mother were stranded in a truck in California's raging floodwaters has been identified, as the search has been suspended for the evening.

Kyle Doan was swept away on the central coast near San Miguel and while his mother was rescued, searches thus far have only turned up one of his Nike shoes. 

A break in the weather Tuesday allowed officials to continue to look for Doan.

'It's still very dangerous out there,' said San Luis Obispo County sheriff's spokesperson Tony Cipolla. 'The creeks are very fast flowing.' 

Water and air rescue teams were deployed Tuesday in an attempt to locate the missing boy near Paso Robles.  

Doan and his mother were headed to school Monday when her truck was stuck just after 8 a.m. local time, according to the New York Post.

While residents nearby were able to rescue Kyle's mother, he was swept away by the floodwaters and taken downstream, with some officials saying he may have been taken down a river. 

Officials in San Luis Obispo have said that finding Doan remain their highest priority. 

Kyle Doan is described as having dirty blond hair, hazel eyes, 4 feet tall and about 52 pounds. He was last seen in a black puffer jacket with a red liner, blue jeans and blue/gray Nike tennis shoes.  

California was wracked by more wild winter while the next in a powerful string of storms loomed on the horizon Tuesday.

Millions of residents faced flood warnings, nearly 50,000 people were under evacuation orders, and more than 110,000 homes and businesses were without power because of heavy rains, lightning, hail and landslides.

At least 17 people have died from storms that began late last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a visit to the scenic town of Capitola on the Santa Cruz coast that was hard hit by high surf and flooding creek waters last week. 

Two motorists in Visalia, California are the latest fatalities of the state's historic storms after a tree fell on their vehicle on State Route 99 around 6am Tuesday. 

The incident in the Northern California area caused multiple vehicles to crash, California Highway Patrol officials said after the crash.

The deaths come just hours after a mother and daughter were rescued from a sinkhole in a Los Angeles neighborhood overnight after the road they were on continued to 'sluff and deteriorate' from heavy rain hitting the area. 

The massive storm, caused by a series of atmospheric rivers, has wreaked havoc across the state, including residents in star-studded Montecito, California - including Prince Harry and Meghan, Oprah, and Ellen, all of whom have been warned to evacuate.

The Golden State saw no relief from drenching rains on Tuesday as roads turned into gushing flood zones, forcing the evacuation of thousands in towns with histories of deadly mudslides. 

Rainfall throughout the day was expected to be 'heavy to excessive' across the state, especially in southern California, as winds gusts were clocked at more than 40 miles an hour in many places, the National Weather Service said.

'We've had less people die in the last two years of major wildfires in California than have died since New Year's Day related to this weather,' Newsom said. 'These conditions are serious and they're deadly.'

The storm that began Monday dumped more than a foot and a half of rain in Southern California mountains and buried Sierra Nevada ski resorts in more than 5 feet of snow.

Rockfalls and landslides shut down roads, and gushing runoff turned sections of freeways into waterways. Swollen rivers swamped homes and residents of small communities inundated with water and mud were stranded.

'We're all stuck out here,' said Brian Briggs, after the deluge unleashed mudslides in remote Matilija Canyon that buried one house completely and cut off the only road to nearby Ojai.

Briggs described a scary night where the canyon creek began to flood people's yards and the surrounding hills - stripped of vegetation in the 2017 Thomas Fire - began to tumble down in the dark.

Mudflows dragged sheds, gazebos and outhouses into the creek, he said. After helping neighbors get to higher ground, he returned home to find his fence destroyed by waist-deep mud.

A helicopter dropped 10 sheriff's deputies Tuesday to help the residents of dozens of homes in the canyon and Briggs said he was hoping to be airlifted out.

Raging waters crested the banks of Bear Creek and flooded parts of the city of Merced and neighboring Planada, a small agricultural community along a highway leading to Yosemite National Park.

Neighborhoods were under water with cars submerged up to their roofs. Residents ordered to evacuate carried whatever they could salvage on their backs as they left in the rain.

On Sunday, President Joe Biden issued an emergency declaration, granting California access to funding and resources desperately needed.