Three weeks after the outbreak of the devastating forest fires in Northern California, torrential rain and floods are now threatening the area. Around the burnt-out town of Paradise, heavy rains set the streets under water.

Authorities in Butte district evacuated vulnerable areas through evacuations. Several people were rescued on flooded roads from their vehicles, said authorities spokesman Rick Carhart according to the newspaper "San Francisco Chronicle". Other regions in California were affected by the winter storms.

The so-called camp fire in early November had almost completely destroyed the town of Paradise north of Sacramento. At least 88 people were killed, several hundred people are still missing.

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Photographer at the forest fire in Paradise: "The city had no chance"

More than 13,000 homes burned down. It is the worst fire with the most deaths in the US West Coast since the beginning of the record.