Page 7 - Epic Drought News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Soil that is built up in these channels here. and then rain comes. you've got 1, 1 1/2 inch of fast-moving rain that. causes the debris flows or the mudslides in these channels that have been filled with soil and dirt from the wildfire season. so people have to prepare for the worst. this could be a really terrible winter in terms of massive amounts of flooding, mudslides, that kind of thing. ultimately a good news story because we need the rainfall. but too much is going to cause problems. >> i was going to say. just about a month ago we were talking about how california is so desperately nee...

The day they measure, it turns out this year was worse than anybody dreamed. snow pack statewide came in this year at 5% of normal. not 5% below normal but 5% of normal. like 95% off. and that means that this is the fourth straight year of drought. and the worst of those four years probably. and we're likely heading into a fifth year of epic, epic drought as well. >> you're at the phillips snow course for the april 1st, 2015 measurement. and as you can clearly see, there's no snow at this location. and this is the first year in its measurements going back to 1942 where this snow course has bee...

Situation. >> reporter: in the snow starved mountains where the snow pack measuring station should be buried under five feet of snow the governor made history. >> w we're in a historic drought and that demands action. it's for that reason that i'm issuing an executive order mandating substantial water reduction across our state. >> the governor says water use must be slashed by 25%. >> reporter: because reservoirs across the region are running on empty as seen on this drone video documenting record breaking conditions. nasa says this epic drought now effects 64 million americans across the wes...

Another story we're following tonight, california is now officially in uncharted territory. unprecedented move today, governor jerry brown ordered mandatory water restrictions across the state. that is a big deal. miguel al maguire has this story. >> reporter: this measuring station in the mountains should be buried under five feet of snow. today governor jerry brown made history. >> we're in a historic drought. that demands unprecedented action. for that reason i'm issuing an executive order mandating substantial water reduction across our state. >> reporter: the governor says water use must ...

Normal. like 95% off. and that means that this is the fourth straight year of drought. and the worst of those four years probably. and we're likely heading into a fifth year of epic, epic drought as well. >> you're at the phillips snow course for the april 1st, 2015, measurement. and as you can clearly see, there's no snow at this location. and this is the first year in its measurements going back to 1942 where this snow course has been bare. no snow at all. and unfortunately, that's what we're finding more or less statewide, where upwards of 60% to 70% of the 240 manual snow course measuremen...