Fresno County residents surrounded by floodwaters

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Hamilton found water about 10 feet away from the front of his home. The back of his property was completely flooded. "I walked out here and kind of held my breath and saw the water was pouring through the back here," said Hamilton. A handful of horses had to be moved off of the property. He said in some areas, the water was 10 inches deep.

The water came from the nearby Dry Creek reservoir, which is designed to catch runoff from the foothills and mountain areas. "Had we not had that in place, we'd be looking at some pretty severe situations. The reservoir has about 17 percent capacity. And most of that would come into the community uncontrolled," said Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District general manager Bob VanWyk.

While the reservoir can hold several more inches of water, the wet December has more than 150 area ponding basins near capacity. VanWyk said crews will be working nonstop to drain them before the next storm. "We'll be working 24/7 for the next several days. 24 hours a day, no question about that," said VanWyk.

In the meantime, Ken Hamilton and his horses will have to wait for his property to dry out. "I thought we'd have a couple more days at least before it would get to this point. You just have to keep your fingers crossed," said Hamilton.