California storms updates: Woman found dead in submerged in car

Yet another storm is expected to hit the West Coast on Wednesday, dumping more rain and snow over Northern California while offering some respite to Southern California.

Parts of coastal Oregon could see waves as high as 35 feet from this storm.

As of Wednesday morning, 12 U.S. states in the West were under severe weather alerts for high winds, floods, avalanches and heavy snowfall.

But any break this storm provides will be brief, as a much larger weather system is in the forecast for this weekend, bringing torrential rain, heavy snow and gusty winds to the entire state of California, from San Diego to Redding.

Over the next seven days, the deluge will impact Oregon and Washington state as the storms move farther north and become more widespread.

Part of the western storm that hit California on Tuesday will sweep across the country, bringing severe weather to the South on Thursday with threats of damaging winds and an isolated tornado. This storm will move into the Northeast on Thursday night with mostly just rain.

-ABC News’ Max Golembo

Santa Barbara County announced Tuesday that it’s lifting all its evacuation and shelter-in-place orders but warns that flooding may be present in certain parts of the county.

On Monday, Santa Barbara received a record 4.12 inches of rainfall.

At least 17 people are confirmed dead in California because of the powerful storms slamming the state, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

More than 44,000 people are under evacuation orders, Newsom said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Over 142,000 customers are without power throughout the state.

"We are not out of the woods,” Newsom said.

The storms are expected to impact the state until Jan. 18, according to the governor.

Rescuers have resumed the search for a missing 5-year-old boy who was swept away by floodwaters near San Miguel, California, after they were forced to halt the search on Monday as the extreme weather made it unsafe for first responders to continue their efforts, according to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office.

Underwater search and rescue, as well as air operations, will continue the search during a break in the intense storms, but warned that conditions continue to be extremely dangerous, the sheriff's office said.

"The water level is high and continues to be fast moving. The public is strongly cautioned not to conduct self-initiated searches and put themselves in harms way and become a victim requiring resources that would otherwise be used for searching," the sheriff's office said in a release.