‘They’re sacrificing us’

Nearly four months after the waters washed through Planada, most of Samuel Gomez’s one-bedroom house has been stripped back to the studs. He was still sleeping in a small room at the back of the house – the only one that hadn’t been completely wrecked.

“Yeah, I’ll get sick from all this,” said Gomez, 80, gesturing at the mould-marred corners and sludge-soaked floorboards. “But where do I go?”

In early January, the small Central Valley community of Planada was one of the first towns engulfed by a wave of back-to-back storms that hit California this winter. Amid relentless rains, a creek that runs past the town broke through an ageing levee. Flood waters swamped the town and surrounding agricultural fields.

To read the full report from The Guardian, click here.