California reservoir levels in before, after photos show dramatic rise

• The drought has not been declared over because there are still water shortages in some areas.
• California Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted some water restrictions as a result of the abundance.

Photos taken before and after a series of powerful storms show California’s replenished lakes and reservoirs following three years of drought that left land cracked, wildlife threatened and millions of people at risk in the nation’s most populous state.   

The storms have poured more than 78 trillion gallons of water on the state, filling 12 of California’s 17 major reservoirs to above their historical averages for the start of spring.

“California went from the three driest years on record to the three wettest weeks on record when we were catapulted into our rainy season in January,” said Karla Nemeth, director of California Department of Water Resources,  the Associated Press reported.

In December, the first of a dozen “atmospheric rivers” began to fill reservoirs with each storm — which also caused multiple deaths, evacuations and widespread damage to homes and infrastructure across the state. 

Last month, Southern California’s largest reservoir marked an incredible turnaround when officials from the Metropolitan Water District  turned on the taps once again — releasing water transported from Northern California that gushed from valves at 600 cubic feet per second into the 4.5-mile-long Diamond Valley Lake.