Who Is Jayda Jenkins? Missing California Woman Drowned After Car Crash In Creek, Police Suspect

The search for a missing Northern California woman was being hampered by violent weather conditions Monday. Police suspect 18-year-old Jayda Jenkins may have died when her car plunged into a deep creek Saturday.

Local law enforcement reverted to using drones and helicopters to survey the creek from above, as sending dive teams into the water was deemed too dangerous, according to local reports Monday.

Police in the city of Fremont, California in Alameda County, which is 44 miles southeast of San Francisco, received a call Saturday morning that Jenkins' silver Honda had been spotted floating upside down in the Alameda Creek before it sank.

The water level of the Alameda Creek was uncharacteristically high because of recent winter storms in the area. The creek was 20 feet deep at the part where the submerged car was said to be and crews were reluctant to enter the rough waters in addition to hazardous debris and branches rushing downstream.

Jenkins, from the nearby town of Tracy, likely swerved over the double yellow lines and hit another car, which caused her vehicle to skate uncontrollably 100 feet off the road before plunging into the creek.

Rescue teams were working with state water resource officials to reduce the level of water in the creek so that dive teams can enter the water safely. It could reportedly take days or even weeks until search crews can go in. Once the water level gets reduced, authorities were expected to use a boat to reach the vehicle, attach cables and drag it out with tow trucks.

The water in the creek was reportedly flowing at a rate of 2,200 cubic feet per second Monday, but authorities said they can get its speed to lessen to 1,200 cubic feet per second by limiting the incoming water flow from two local reservoirs. Doing so should allow divers to enter the water sometime Tuesday, they said.

"That section is very challenging because there is a bridge there. And we believe that the creek is much deeper in that location. We cannot at this time put people into the water," Alameda County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Ray Kelly said. “We’ll stop at nothing to go get this person. If it’s your family, you want the same time of response that this family is getting.”

Search crews spent more than a day scouring the banks of the creek over the weekend but did not find the car or Jenkins' body. Authorities suspected her body was likely still inside the car.

San Francisco has seen more than nine inches of rain this month after a series of storms last weekend, according to local reports.