A “river” more than 100 miles wide is gushing through the air high above California, bringing with it heavy rain, winds, and snow. It’s the third in a series of weather systems known as atmospheric rivers — long, heavy columns of water vapor in the sky — to hit the state in the last two weeks.

It’s already proven deadly: Two people have died as a result of the storms, including a toddler; roads have flooded or been hit by mudslides, forcing evacuations; and more than 180,000 Californians lost power. On Wednesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm’s arrival, and the city of San Francisco ran out of sandbags for the second day in a row as residents rushed to protect their homes from the possibility of flooding.

Once the storm passes, there will be little respite: Another atmospheric river is forecast to hit the state this coming weekend and next week, bringing even more flooding.

California is looking drenched at the moment, but for the past two decades, it’s been suffering through a megadrought of the kind that hasn’t been seen in more than 1,000 years. The drought threatens the region’s agricultural industry and ordinary citizens alike, putting livelihoods at risk and raising concerns about what the future of life in the West might look like.