A car is buried in mud Thursday in Wrightwood, Calif.William Liang / AP

Three people are dead after major storms swept through California, dumping rain and leaving behind catastrophic flooding during the Christmas holiday - and even more rain is in the forecast.

One of the men who died in the floods was a sheriff`s deputy in Sacramento. The Sacramento County Sheriff`s Office said Deputy James Caravallo was killed in a solo vehicle crash on his way to work on Christmas Eve.

Richard Michael Wilsey, 74, from Redding, died on Sunday as a result of severe flooding, according to the Shasta County Sheriff`s Office.

Roberto Ruiz, a man in his 60s or 70s from San Diego, died Wednesday after a large tree branch fell on him, causing him to go into cardiac arrest, NBC San Diego reported. NBC News has not independently verified Ruiz`s death.

Wrightwood, California, which is east of Los Angeles, got nearly a foot of rain. One resident who lives in the area said he was shocked to wake up to a "river running through our property." The floods reached homes and buried cars in mud.

Air and boat crews spent the holiday rescuing California residents trapped in high floodwaters, pulling some off of roofs.

Christopher Prater from the San Bernardino Fire Department said his crews "saw some very dire situations," including, in some cases, those who were trapped in their homes by up to 5 feet of mud and water.

But that`s not all for the West Coast: One more round of rain is set to pummel the region Friday, carrying the risk of mudslides, debris flow and flooding due to highly saturated soils and waterways.

At least 32 million people remain under flood watches across California, including the metro areas of Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The storms and floods are also wreaking havoc on what is set to be this year`s busiest travel weekend, with tens of millions expected to head home after Christmas.

As of late Friday afternoon, nearly 6,000 flights had been delayed and over 1,400 had been canceled into, or out of the U.S. Airlines are recommending flyers rebook their routes to avoid messy weather on the coasts.

A multiple-vehicle crash Wednesday during a rainstorm in San Diego.Michael Ho Wai Lee / Sipa USA via AP

Winter wonderland on the East Coast

The Northeast just missed a white Christmas, with snow expected to fall Friday night into Saturday.

A total of 59 million people remain under winter weather alerts.

Snow and ice were still pushing through the Appalachians and eastern Great Lakes on Friday afternoon, moving toward the East Coast.

Snow is expected to start falling later in the day in Philadelphia, Boston and New York City.

Upstate New York will get some of the heaviest snowfall, with more than 10 inches forecast in isolated locations.

And New York City could get 4 to 8 inches on Friday night, with snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour. Travel conditions could be dangerous in the New York metro area, with the highest snowfall rates expected between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Central Park is forecast receive its first snowfall of greater than 4 inches since January 2022.

Significant icing and a wintry mix is expected across northern Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Saturday morning will bring lighter snow showers and icy roads, but the storm should stop by the end of the day.