01:20 - Source: CNN
What are atmospheric rivers?
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Storm-ravaged California must endure one more round of ferocious winds, torrential rain and possible flooding as the latest atmospheric river pummels the state Monday.

About 8 million people are under flood watches until midnight Monday for coastal Central California, including the Bay Area.

Fresh rainfall could trigger more flooding, mudslides and landslides as oversaturated land from recent downpours gets inundated again. California has already endured more than 500 landslides since December 30, according to the California Geological Survey.

And violent winds could topple trees in weakened soils, threatening more power outages and misery in the state.

Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
Damaged cars sit beneath a fallen tree in Woodland Hills, California.

Since Christmas week, an onslaught of storms has killed 19 people, destroyed homes and turned entire neighborhoods into lakes.

But California will get a desperately needed reprieve at the end of this week.

“As we push into the day on Tuesday, we’re looking for quieter weather across much of the state, with one fast-moving additional system arriving for later Wednesday into early Thursday,” said David Lawrence of the National Weather Service.

“After that, looking for a period of dry weather for much of the state finally as we head into late week and pretty much through the weekend.”

Before the long-awaited respite, here’s what’s in store for early this week:

• Coastal Central California will begin slowly drying out starting Monday afternoon.

• Southern California will get doused with rain Monday through early Tuesday, and more than 6 inches of snow could hit the mountains in the region.

Fred Greaves/Reuters
Floodwater from the Russian River approaches homes Sunday in Guerneville, California.

• Another 1 to 2 feet of snow is expected to pile up Monday in the Sierra Nevada, which has been hit with several feet of snow during the recent barrage of storms.

• A weak storm system hits Northern and Central California Wednesday and early Thursday, but the rain and snowfall are not expected to be significant.

• After that, California will finally get several days of long-awaited dry weather.

View this interactive content on CNN.com

‘We have lost too much’

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Ryan Orosco carries his 7-year-old son, Johnny, on his back while his wife, Amanda, waits at the front porch to be rescued from their flooded home in Brentwood, California, on Monday, January 16.
Mike Blake/Reuters
An abandoned car is trapped on a flooded street in San Diego on January 16.
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Joey Klien salvages items from his house on January 16 after part of it was flooded in Carmel Valley.
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Damage caused by recent storms is seen at the Capitola Pier on Sunday, January 15. The pier was built in 1857.
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Melissa Foley clears debris in her neighborhood as the San Lorenzo River rises in Felton on Saturday, January 14.
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A flooded field is seen in Salinas as the Salinas River begins to overflow its banks on Friday, January 13.
San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office/AP
National Guard troops, sheriff's office personnel and firefighters search for missing 5-year-old Kyle Doan near San Miguel on Thursday, January 12. Doan was pulled from his mother's hands by rushing floodwaters on January 9.
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Kelly Slate packs a mirror in the back of a truck after her home was flooded in Planada on Wednesday, January 11.
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A car drives through floodwaters in Planada on January 11.
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Residents in Piru work to push back wet mud that trapped cars and invaded some houses on January 11.
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A person walks near driftwood and storm debris that washed up in front of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk amusement park.
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A San Diego firefighter rescues a dog from a flooded home in Merced on Tuesday, January 10.
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Pauline Torres carries belongings from her flooded home in Merced on January 10.
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A neighborhood is flooded in Merced.
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Matt O'Brien shovels mud from a driveway on January 10 after the San Lorenzo River overflowed in Felton.
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Several people had to be rescued after two vehicles fell into this sinkhole in Chatsworth on January 10.
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Commuters in downtown Los Angeles are shuttled over a flooded section of a pedestrian walkway leading to train platforms on the main level of Union Station.
Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Cleanup takes place in Aptos on January 9 after streets and homes were flooded near the Rio Del Mar State Beach.
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People arrive at an evacuation center in Santa Barbara on January 9.
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A crew member is reflected in pools of water while setting up the red carpet for the Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles.
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A home is flooded in Gilroy on January 9.
Brontë Wittpenn/San Francisco Chronicle via AP
Colleen Kumada-McGowan stands in floodwaters in front of her home in Watsonville on January 9.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle via AP
Crews work to clear a mudslide on Highway 17 in Scotts Valley.
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Naia Skogerson leaves her home in Aptos.
Neal Waters/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A road is damaged in Scotts Valley on January 9.
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This aerial photo shows a tree that fell in Sacramento on January 8.
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Santa Cruz residents clear storm debris and stack sandbags near their homes on January 7.
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Sandbages are piled in front of a door in Capitola on January 6.
Shmuel Thaler/The Santa Cruz Sentinel via AP
Boone White leaps from his car after a large tree fell on it while he was driving near Capitola.
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A support piece from the Capitola Wharf is seen inside the storm-damaged restaurant Zelda's on the Beach.
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Evan Sousa, left, gets help from Calvin Drake as they push water out of his flooded apartment in Pacifica on January 5.
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Henry Valletta cuts up a downed tree in Sacramento on January 5.
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Residents walk in a damaged area of Aptos on January 5.
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Dominic King, owner of the restaurant My Thai Beach, surveys storm damage at his business in Capitola.
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A vineyard is flooded in Walnut Grove on January 4.
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Drivers in San Francisco barrel into standing water on Interstate 101 on January 4.
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Khaled Dajani clears water from his flooded living room in San Francisco on December 31.

The 19 people killed in California’s recent storms include two people found with trees on top of their tents, people whose cars became submerged in floodwater, and a child who was killed when a redwood tree fell on a home.

And rescuers are still searching for 5-year-old Kyle Doan, who was ripped from his mother’s hands by rushing floodwater after their SUV was swept away in San Luis Obispo County on January 9.

“We have lost too much – too many people to these storms and in these waters,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said Saturday as he urged residents to prepare for Monday’s storm.

In San Joaquin County, about 175 residents of a mobile home park inundated by floodwater evacuated Sunday, including by boat, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office said.

Evacuation warnings were in place Sunday evening for residents near the Carmel River in Monterey County, on California’s Central Coast. A warning was also in place for residents in Sacramento County’s Wilton area.

“We’re getting flooding in our coastal streams, creeks, and rivers,” Santa Cruz County official David Reid said. “And we’re getting extensive landslides and mudslides and road failures in our mountainous areas.”

President Joe Biden has approved California’s request for a disaster declaration, freeing up federal aid to help recovery efforts in areas affected by storms, flooding and mudslides since December 27.

The federal aid can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs and loans to help cover property losses for uninsured homes, the White House said.

‘Near impossible travel’ in higher elevations

While residents in lower elevations contend with heavy rain and the risk of flooding and mudslides, those living at higher elevations face treacherous conditions due to intense snow.

“Heavy mountain snow and strong winds will lead to blowing snow and whiteout conditions at times, creating dangerous to near impossible travel above 4,000 ft in the mountains and passes of Central California and above 5,000 ft for Southern California,” the National Weather Service said.

In the Sierra Nevada mountains, snow could drop as fast as 2 inches an hour at times, the weather service said.

Flagstaff, Arizona, already shattered its previous single-day snowfall record of 8.9 inches, set back in 1978. On Sunday, Flagstaff got walloped with 14.8 inches of snow.

And lower elevations in Arizona, Nevada, Utah and New Mexico could get 1 to 4 inches of snow.

It could take weeks or months to clear some roads

David Mcnew/AFP/Getty Images
The recent storms have damaged the Capitola Pier in Capitola, California.

In Ventura County, residents in the remote Matilija Canyon were urged to leave their homes Sunday as the community struggles to recover from more than 17 inches of rain that fell in a single day last week.

“Towering piles of rock and mud reach over 40 feet tall in some locations, blocking access to roadways and leaving residents isolated to the canyon,” the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday.

Crews have been trying to clear the debris from roads, but “ongoing rain has led to unsafe conditions slowing cleanup efforts,” the sheriff’s office said. “Public Works estimates it may take up to three weeks to clear a single-lane access road into the community and up to six months to complete required repairs.”

More than 10 helicopter flights have rescued at least 70 residents from the area, the sheriff’s office said.

CNN’s Michelle Watson, Amanda Jackson and Robert Shackelford contributed to this report.