Palm Springs residents rescued as California’s desert city is hit by flash floods

Officials say at least 17 people killed by string of intense winter storms across state

California’s famous desert resort city Palm Springs was hit by heavy winter storm flash flooding that saw at least one trapped motorist rescued from their vehicle.

The Palm Springs Fire Department carried out the swift water rescue after flooding in a desert wash in the city. A wash is an area in the desert where water once flowed or that floods during heavy rain or flash flooding.

The rescue began at around 5.45pm on Tuesday evening and took around an hour, according to officials.

The motorist was successfully rescued with no injuries, PSFD Captain Nathan Gunkel told The Palm Springs Desert Sun.

“Fire units just completed a Swift Water rescue on North Gene Autry at the wash, one occupant was rescued safely with no injuries to firefighters or the occupant.  Indian Canyon and Gene Autry are now closed. Please drive safely,” the department posted on Facebook.

Palm Springs, which became famous for attracting the likes of Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack in the 1960s, normally gets only around five inches of rain a year.

California officials say that at least 17 people were killed by a system of intense winter storms that battered the state this week.

And Governor Gavin Newsom said on Monday that the storms had cost “more lives than wildfires in the past two years combined.”

Some 57,835 homes and businesses remained in a power blackout on Wednesday morning, according to utility tracker poweroutage.us

The most outages are located in Mendocino county, north of San Francisco, along with Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties which includes the city of San Jose and Silicon Valley.