At least 10 people have died and about 1,500 homes and business have been destroyed after parts of California's wine region was ravaged by wildfires whipped by fast and powerful winds. The governor of California has declared an emergency and numerous areas in the region have been evacuated.
Some of the most-affected counties are Sonoma, Yuba and Napa and about 20,000 people have been moved to safer areas. "These fires have destroyed structures and continue to threaten thousands of homes, necessitating the evacuation of thousands of residents," a declaration by the Office of Governor Edmund G Brown Jr said.
The wildfire reportedly broke out in the regions almost simultaneously and spread overnight, due to which two of the largest hospitals were also forced to evacuate patients as well as staff members. However, the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.
Hundreds of residents of the region are now lodged at makeshift emergency shelters and they said that they were shocked at how massive the fire was and the rate at which it spread. They also spoke about how all their homes and possessions were up in flames.
"All that good stuff, I'm never going to see it again," said Jeff Okrepkie, who fled his neighbourhood in Santa Rosa, according to the Associated Press.
The National Weather Service has warned San Francisco area and said that "any fires that develop will likely spread rapidly" mostly due to strong winds, low humidity and dry weather.
Apart from residential and commercial areas, the raging fire has also destroyed vineyards in the region. A vineyard owner said that he and his family fled from their homes on Sunday and his vineyard to must have been destroyed. "There was no wind, then there would be a rush of wind and it would stop. Then there would be another gust from a different direction. The flames wrapped around us," Ken Moholt-Siebert told the Los Angeles Times.
"I was just being pelted with all this smoke and embers. It was just really fast."
Meanwhile, another resident of Sonoma County explained to ABC News that the region is engulfed in such thick smoke from the fire that even the sun looks a pale yellow.
A sundown-to-sunrise curfew is currently in place in a few parts of Santa Rosa and evacuation and rescue process is on. "I'm lucky," Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Coursey said at a news conference. "My house is fine. My family is fine. My city is not."
