Parts of California are absolutely soaked - and the worst may be yet to come

California is no stranger to winter storms bringing rain and snow – particularly in the mountains – but this season has been unusual for the sheer number of them battering this state in quick succession.

In Ventura County in southern California, emergency service workers are using a blue rope to help a man hoist himself free of the knee-deep, cement-like mud.

“I hadn’t expected it to be so deep but these kind folks helped me out,” says Ray, a prospector, whose trade is to search for mineral deposits in the land.

He has lived in the mountain community along the Ventura River for 25 years.

“The biggest danger is too much water for the ground to soak up. You’ve got huge rock mountains everywhere, the water just piles up, and when it does, this is where it comes,” he says, pointing to vast piles of sludge and rocks on the river bank.

He has been assessing the damage of this latest deluge. “I study the weather for my local area a lot and it seems like it’s going to get worse,” Ray says. “Storms like this will become the norm. Mother Nature is probably pretty mad at us given that we’ve polluted and destroyed our environment beyond all belief.”

For the past fortnight, this vast state has been hit by unrelenting extreme weather, killing at least 17 people, flooding homes and businesses and wiping out major roads. Seeing the swollen creeks and rivers, it is difficult to believe California is also in the grip of several years of drought.

Tens of thousands of people were under evacuation orders, including residents of the super-wealthy enclave of Montecito, home to Prince Harry and Meghan as well as Gwyneth Paltrow.

The talk show host, Ellen DeGeneres, who has an estate in the town, posted a video of herself in front of a raging creek, which she says is usually dry. “We need to be nicer to Mother Nature,” she implored, “because Mother Nature is not happy with us.”

All the major roads into Montecito from the south were closed because of flooding, fallen trees or mudslides. In the village of Casitas Springs, a man named Jason, in his pick-up truck, is trying to reach his home a quarter of a mile up a flooded road.

“I’m trying to get to my neighbour who was bitten by a dog,” he says. “They only have a small car so are stuck up there and we need to get him to hospital.

“We’re trying to get home too, because we’ve got animals there who were alone overnight because we couldn’t get back. There’ve been storms that have been bad before, but not for a while.”

In San Francisco, they have just experienced the wettest 10-day period in more than 150 years. Seven more inches of rain could fall in many parts of California over the next several days as what meteorologists say is an “enormous cyclone” forms off the coast.

It means that for some already soaked parts of this state, the worst may yet be to come.

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