Warren Brush's essential answer to the California drought: https://internationalpermaculture.com/2014/12/15/drought-proofing-california-not-in-the-news/
Funny, as soon as I heard about the upcoming monster "Pineapple Express" storm all I could think of was swales. "Swalefornia."
9anda1f - the link seems to be down. Gonhar, yes, we are drowning! Such a shame, because if it came in small amounts every other day we'd still have it!! Now it's just running into the sea! Yet we've had so much everything is saturated. Mediterranean climates are just one step above a desert, so it's not unusual to get drought/floods/drought/floods. Throw in a few fires and earthquakes, and there you have it!!