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Drought Worries Over! See Water's Dramatic Return to California

Last Friday, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed an executive order lifting the state's drought emergency in all but four counties.
Image: California drought
The Enterprise Bridge passes over a section of Lake Oroville that is nearly dry on Aug. 19, 2014, left, in Oroville, California. At right, the landscape is seen dramatically changed on April 11, 2017.
/ Source: NBC News

California Gov. Jerry Brown signed an executive order Friday lifting the state's drought emergency in all but four counties.

As California's landscape has turned from brown to green, Getty photographer Justin Sullivan revisited some of the locations where he documented the effects of the drought.

After record rainfall and snow in the mountains, his meticulously composed before-and-after photos dramatize the rising water levels and the return of vegetation to the formerly parched state.

Click on the images below to see them at a larger scale.

Image: Then And Now: California's Drought Officially Declared To Be Over
Horses graze in a field in Woodacre, California, in July 2014 and April 2017.Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

The drought emergency had been in effect since 2014.

Image: Then And Now: California's Drought Officially Declared To Be Over
Low water levels expose ground at the Bidwell Marina at Lake Oroville in August 2014, top, and April 2017, in Oroville, California.Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

A man-made reservoir, Lake Oroville was at 32 percent of its capacity when the top photo was taken.

Image: Then And Now: California's Drought Officially Declared To Be Over
Visitors walk their dogs in Bernal Heights Park in San Francisco in July 2014 and April 2017.Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Reservoirs across the state are now near capacity.

Image: Then And Now: California's Drought Officially Declared To Be Over
Water levels at the Bidwell Marina in August 2014 and April 2017. Justin Sullivan / Getty Images