These shocking pictures show just how widespread the flooding in California’s wine country was this week with thousands of homes and business facing ruin by the heavy rain.

Residents were told to leave the area and roads were closed after buildings in the popular tourist destination were flooded by water up to eight feet deep. Two towns – Guerneville and neighboring Monte Rio – became ‘islands’.<

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Images show people forced to kayak down flooded streets after days of heavy rain left some areas reachable only by boat after being cut off by the rain-swollen Russian River on Wednesday.

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office said on Wednesday morning: ‘Guerneville is officially an island.’

By Friday the evacuation orders were lifted and all roads into Guerneville and neighboring Monte Rio were opened – almost three days later. But residents returned to scenes of devastation and pictures from the scene show people coming to terms with the extensive damage.

Mud and debris covers cars, homes and roads after 3,700 people were ordered to evacuate as waters reached up to eight feet deep.

Jason Flint prepared for the flooding by putting his deli’s valuable equipment on pallets and milk crates stacked several feet above the ground.

But it wasn’t enough and when he returned to Guerneville Friday he found mud-covered refrigerators, display cases and food crates strewn about by 6-foot-high murky water.

‘My entire deli is wiped out,’ Flint said. ‘It’s crazy. It’s too much to get my head around this.’

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A flooded neighborhood sits in waters from the overflowed Russian River in the town of Guerneville

Residents returned to scenes of devastation and pictures from the scene show people kayaking down roads

Along the main road in Guerneville, business owners inspected the damage caused by floodwaters that rose about 46 feet Wednesday night, the river’s highest level in 24 years.

Chris Reid, a manager of True Value Hardware, said they were able to salvage cash registers, computers, chain saws and other expensive equipment by putting them on the second floor of the two-story building.

But on the ground level, all the shelves were covered in chest-high mud. He and employees washed down rubber boots, brooms, shovels, buckets and other salvaged cleaning supplies and brought them to the sidewalk to sell at a discounted rate.

Locals are accustomed to the river flooding in rainy weather, but not like this, he said.

‘The store has gone through all the floods but this is a lot more than we expected,’ Reid said.

Flint said he knew flooding was inevitable when he opened his deli but he couldn’t afford to pay $2,000 per month for flood insurance.

‘I’ve been here 17 years and I’ve never seen the river that high. I pray the worst of it is over,’ he said, adding that he plans to rebuild his business……More Here