SACRAMENTO, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- The drenching California got this week from days of rainstorms left the state still parched by a long-running drought, officials said Thursday.
Parts of the state got up to 4 inches and "respectable amounts of precipitation" fell in most of northern California, the National Drought Monitor reported. But the organization said drought levels remained unchanged from last week, with reservoir levels still down and streams running low.
In the Los Angeles area,now/la-me-ln-california-rain-drought-monitor-20141204-story.html" target="_blank"> more than an inch was reported in coastal areas and well over 2 inches in the San Gabriel Mountains.
More than half of California, 55 percent, is in "extreme drought," the monitor said. Almost 80 percent was at least in "exceptional drought" and 99.72 percent in some form of drought.
California's wet season officially began Monday, Dec. 1, but forecasters said even an average amount of rain this year would not be enough to relieve the situation.
Snowpack, just starting to form in the Sierras, also appears to be below normal this year.
The drought has brought wildfires to much of the state as well. Before this week's storms, residents feared that rain falling on mountainsides stripped of vegetation would lead to flash floods and mudslides.
The damage was less serious than feared. But a last burst of heavy rain caused problems in Riverside County and the San Diego area.
In Gilman Springs, five cars were stranded by a road washout just after midnight Thursday. A total of 14 people were rescued without injury, police said.
The parking lot at Qualcomm Stadium was flooded when the San Diego River overtopped its banks. In the mountains east of San Diego a road was closed by mud and rock.
