--- description: California is in a state of emergency title: California's Catastrophic State of Emergency image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64c5f56afe59fe29/69869ea413c79ffb941935e9/107694611.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [weather](/tag/weather/) ## weather Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # California Is the State of Emergencies by [Salima Koroma](/author/salima-koroma/) ## Salima Koroma Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 6, 2014 10:02 PM CUT  Firefighter fights a wildfire with a backfire in Big Sur, California Firefighter fights a wildfire with a backfire in Big Sur, CaliforniaKodiak Greenwood--Getty Images by [Salima Koroma](/author/salima-koroma/) ## Salima Koroma Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 6, 2014 10:02 PM CUT Seven months ago, California’s [historic drought ](http://time.com/2990069/california-drought-regulations/ "undefined") prompted governor Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency. As the farmland-rich Central Valley remained parched, wildfires ravaged Northern and Southern California. Elsewhere in the state, mudslides washed away homes. Then there was a water main break that wasted up to 20 million gallons of water and flooded the UCLA campus. There’s simply no way around it: California — the most populous state in the Union — is going through some tough times. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3087695/california-is-the-state-of-emergencies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3087695/california-is-the-state-of-emergencies/"},"headline":"California Is the State of Emergencies","datePublished":"2014-08-06T22:02:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:32:33.081Z","description":"Mudslides, drought, fires and flooding have made the most populous state in the Union a difficult place to live this year","url":"https://time.com/3087695/california-is-the-state-of-emergencies/","keywords":["weather","Environment","California drought"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64c5f56afe59fe29/69869ea413c79ffb941935e9/107694611.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Salima Koroma","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/salima-koroma/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64c5f56afe59fe29/69869ea413c79ffb941935e9/107694611.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Firefighter fights a wildfire with a backfire in Big Sur, California","caption":"Firefighter fights a wildfire with a backfire in Big Sur, California","creditText":"Kodiak Greenwood--Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/weather/","name":"weather"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3087695/california-is-the-state-of-emergencies/","name":"California Is the State of Emergencies"}}]}] ```