In this video, Don Cheadle takes an aerial tour of one of California’s drought-stricken landscapes—a disappearing reservoir called Folsom Lake. Flying with him is Felicia Marcus, the top water official for the American state, who explains that four years of drought and no snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains have severely depleted the reservoir, one of the state’s main water supplies.

“This is absolutely what our future looks like under climate change,” Marcus states.

Find more of this story in the episode titled “Uprooted,” part of the National Geographic Channel’s Years of Living Dangerously series.

English Transcript:

- [Narrator] This isn't the Sahara Desert. It's my home state, California. I've lived here most of my life and I've never seen it this dry. I look down and it looks like we're just in Brownsville.

- Well, we're definitely in the worst drought in modern history.

- I'm with Felicia Marcus, the state's top water official. Her board decides when and how to ration water in California.

- Folsom Lake should have water in it, and as we get closer, you'll see how much is exposed. There's the dam. Oh my God! This should be full of water.

- What we're over right now?

- Yeah, I'm right over here. They do dry down during the summer, but not to this. This is the drought.

- Wow. Those are floating docks. Well, they're supposed to be floating. That parking lot is usually right next to the water, and this reservoir is one of California's main water supplies. Is this where climate change meets drought?

- This is absolutely what our future look like under climate change. We're seeing today what happens when a drought goes on for four years and there's no snow pack.

- According to Felicia, the big fear now is a mega drought, one lasting decades. If high emissions continue, there's an 80% chance of that in the second half of this century, an 80% chance parts of our state would basically be uninhabitable.

- It's the Godzilla of all wake up calls.

Spanish Transcript:

- [Narrador] Esto no es el desierto del Sahara. Es mi estado natal, California. He vivido aquí la mayor parte de mi vida y nunca lo había visto tan seco. Miro hacia abajo y parece que estamos en Brownsville.

- Bueno, definitivamente estamos en la peor sequía de la historia moderna.

- Estoy con Felicia Marcus, la principal funcionaria de agua del estado. Su junta decide cuándo y cómo racionar el agua en California.

- El lago Folsom debería tener agua, y a medida que nos acercamos, verás cuánto está expuesto. Ahí está la presa. ¡Oh Dios mío! Esto debería estar lleno de agua.

- ¿Sobre qué estamos ahora?

- Sí, estoy justo aquí. Se secan durante el verano, pero no a este nivel. Esta es la sequía.

- Vaya. Esos son muelles flotantes. Bueno, se supone que deben flotar. Ese estacionamiento suele estar justo al lado del agua, y este embalse es uno de los principales suministros de agua de California. ¿Es aquí donde el cambio climático se encuentra con la sequía?

- Esto es exactamente cómo se verá nuestro futuro bajo el cambio climático. Hoy estamos viendo lo que sucede cuando una sequía dura cuatro años y no hay capa de nieve.

- Según Felicia, el gran temor ahora es una mega sequía, una que dure décadas. Si las emisiones altas continúan, hay un 80% de probabilidad de eso en la segunda mitad de este siglo, un 80 % de probabilidad de que partes de nuestro estado sean básicamente inhabitables.

- Es el Godzilla de todas las llamadas de atención.