colby fire. thousands evacuated, five homes gone in an instant. the drought, declared the governor, has plunged california into a state of emergency. >> we are in an unprecedented, very serious situation and people should pause and reflect on how dependent we are on the rain, on nature and one another. >> reporter: in his state of emergency speech, the governor asked everyone to cut back water use by 20%. his declaration does lift some environmental restrictions to allow the state to move water to parched regions more easily. the challenge, there is not much to share among the state's 38 million residents. reservoir levels are at record lows. snowpacks this season, 80% lower than normal. los angeles got just over three inches of rain in all of 2013, about a quarter of what's normal.