Before-and-after photo shows the devastation of fires raging through California's wine country

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Before-and-after photo shows the devastation of fires raging through California's wine country

Parts of the idyllic suburb of Santa Rosa, California, were engulfed in flames on Monday as a series of wildfires ravaged pieces of Northern California's wine country.

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More than a dozen fires whipped by powerful winds blew through Napa and Sonoma valleys, known for their vineyards and wineries. The blaze torched at least 1,500 homes, businesses, and other structures. The situation is being called one of the worst firestorms in state history.

Santa Rosa was among the cities hit the hardest. A neighborhood known as Coffey Park - a cluster of single-family homes located two miles outside the downtown area - has largely turned to smoke and ash. These before-and-after photos show the scale of the devastation.

Here's what Coffey Park looks like on Google Earth.

santa rosa fire tubbs wildfire northern california 2017

Google Earth

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By late Monday, Coffeey Park was unrecognizable.

santa rosa tubbs fire wildfire 2017

California Highway Patrol/Golden Gate Division via Reuters

An aerial photo of the devastation left behind from the North Bay wildfires north of San Francisco, California, October 9, 2017.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported on Monday that nearly the entire subdivision of single-family homes - built in the 1980s - is gone. The neighborhood has about 8,000 residents.

The extent of the damage in the greater Santa Rosa area is unknown.

An estimated 20,000 people have evacuated the California counties affected by wildfires. There are more than two dozen emergency shelters in Sonoma County alone, and they are filling up.

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