there. reporter: the golden state a soggy one. and now the death toll rising to at least 20 as thousands remain under evacuation orders. this used to be a 50-year flood zone and now it s a three to five-year flood zone. reporter: the dumping deluge swept away motorists, submerged neighborhoods, and left behind an astonishing trail of destruction. whoa! oh, my gosh. reporter: mark whitcomb was flooded three times in january. this mud came in really heavy during the last last week. it poured about two feet inside the house. so this will be a lot of work to dig out. reporter: with over 400 landslides in just under three weeks, roads and highways are compromised. now that the white house has declared a disaster declaration, cities and counties across california will begin to assess the damage and the repairs. experts believe the damage to infrastructure could easily top a billion dollars and take months to fix.
Reporter
Southern-california
Flood-zone
Thousands
Death-toll
Deluge
Evacuation-orders
Soggy-one
Motorists
20
Five
50