The governor of California has declared a state-wide drought, urging residents to conserve water in what could be the state's driest year on record.
The declaration by Governor Jerry
Brown also means farmers will receive aid and more firefighters will be
employed.
Mr Brown faced pressure to declare
the drought as the state's largest reservoirs are at record low levels.
The dry conditions have been blamed
for a wildfire that destroyed five homes north-east of Los Angeles on Thursday.
In a press conference on Friday, Mr
Brown called on residents to cut back "at least 20%" on their water
usage but said the move was voluntary.
"We can't make it rain, but we
can be much better prepared for the terrible consequences that California's
drought now threatens," Mr Brown said in a statement.
He added the declaration was a way
to focus Californians on how serious the drought conditions were.
"We are in a unprecedented,
very serious situation that people should pause and reflect on how dependent we
are on the rain, nature and one other," he said on CNN.
Previous extremely dry years led to
catastrophic wildfire seasons in California in 2003 and 2007.
"People say that the fire
season is starting early, but I guess you could say it never ended," Tom
Scott, a natural resources specialist with the University of California told
the Associated Press news agency.
"If you live in the
backcountry, come July you probably should be thinking about putting your
valuables in storage."
Farmers in the US largest farm
state were already being hit hard.
"I am a fifth-generation
cattle rancher, and it has never been this bad ever in my lifetime," said
Kevin Kester, 58.
His family's records show the area's previous
worst drought was in the 1890s. (BBC)
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