A gunman shot dead eight people at a light rail yard in Santa Clara. The suspect worked at the scene, investigators did not immediately comment on a possible motive.

Summer has not even begun and Lake Oroville, the second-largest reservoir in California that provides drinking water to more than 25 million people, is at less than half of its average capacity at this time of year. "Having the water down at this level here means that we're going to have less water for agriculture, for municipal water use and also for all the environmental needs,” says John Yarbrough, Assistant Deputy Director at the California Department of Water Resources.

Venice Beach in California: synonymous with sun, surf, palm trees and, now, homeless people. As many as 200 tents inhabited by them line the oceanfront in this Los Angeles-area town that for decades has been a lure for surfers and tourists.

Goats are an unlikely but increasingly popular weapon in California's fight against wildfires, which rage through the western US state every year.

A firefighter drives through flames and sparks from the Tamarack Fire in Markleeville, California, as he races to protect a housing development from the blaze. Wildfires continue to ravage the western US and Canada amid oppressively hot, dry weather.

Triggered by an alarming drought, the “Dixie Fire” in California has already destroyed more than a dozen buildings, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

Smoke columns from fires in the US state of California could spawn lightning storms that cause more blazes, experts warn. Several communities have been evacuated.

Some residents have decided not to leave their homes despite the Dixie Fire that has been raging in the forests of northern California since mid-July. The fires have grown so big that it is generating its own weather system.

Fueled by hot and dry weather, the Dixie Fire in Northern California continues to grow, prompting more orders for residents to flee their homes. The blaze has swelled to almost 255,000 acres in size and is 35 percent contained, local authorities say.

Flames surge into the air as firefighters try to contain the Dixie Fire near Milford, California. The wildfire in Northern California has grown to become the largest single wildfire in California state history.

Little is left of abandoned residences at Creekside Mobile Home Park after the Cache fire ripped through the Californian city of Clearlake. Authorities had gone door-to-door urging people to flee the quickly developing blaze, one of several fires ravaging the western state. The last decade has seen a huge rise in the number of wildfires in the west of the United States. Climate change linked to the burning of fossil fuels has made the region dryer and hotter for longer, creating ideal conditions for the blazes to rage.

Olympic athlete and transgender reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner meets with California voters two weeks before the election against incumbent Democrat Gavin Newsom. "I love a good fight", says the Republican candidate who promises to "lower taxes, less regulations, build a pro-business environment".