A firefighter carries a woman from her car after it was caught in street flooding as a powerful storm moves across Southern California on February 17, 2017 in Sun Valley, California. After years of severe drought, heavy winter rains have come to the state, and with them, the issuance of flash flood watches in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties, and the evacuation of hundreds of residents from Duarte, California for fear of flash flooding from areas denuded by a wildfire last year. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

A resident types a text message on her mobile phone, as she sits on a bench made from a tree, which is a creation by Brazilian artist Hugo Franca at Largo da Batata square in Sao Paulo March 17, 2015. Franca, a designer from Sao Paulo is working with the city to make use of fallen trees to turn them into sculpture furniture to line the city's parks, streets and plazas. Brazil's largest city was slammed by several strong storms this rainy season that brought with them heavy rain, lightning and winds as high as 90 kilometres (55 miles) per hour. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)

Indian women wearing traditional attire take a “selfie” with an Indian man dressed as King 'Mahabali' during the Hindu harvesting festival Onam celebrations in Bangalore, India, 28 August 2015. Local people put flower mats in front of their houses, to welcome the King Mahabali, a past ruler of Kerala southern India, during the ten-day festival. (Photo by Jagadeesh N. V./EPA)

Indian army training cadets perform “Kalaripayattu”, an ancient martial art from Kerala, during a combined display ahead of their graduation ceremony, at the Officers Training Academy (OTA), in Chennai, India on September 8, 2023. A combined display of training proficiency was organized at the OTA as a prelude to a passing-out parade of cadets. The combined display marks the culmination of the adventure training and showcases the skills and expertise of armed forces display teams. (Photo by Idrees Mohammed/EPA/EFE)

A man gets ready backstage before performing in the 35th Cochin Carnival, which is held annually to welcome the start of the New Year at Fort Kochi in the southern state of Kerala, India, January 1, 2019. (Photo by Sivaram V/Reuters)

Madras Engineers Group (MEG) soldiers perform “Kalaripayattu”, a traditional martial art from Kerala, during celebrations for the India's 74th Republic Day in Bengaluru on January 26, 2023. (Photo by Manjunath Kiran/AFP Photo)

“Theyyam”. Preparation for the Theyyam performance in the surroundings of Kasaragod city. Theyyam is a popular ritual dance form of North Kerala, particularly in Kannur and Kasargod districts. The Theyyam represents a mythological, divine or heroic character. Make up of Theyyams is done by specialist. There are different types of face painting for which primarily and secondary colours are used. Therefore it is essential that the makeup man should have perfect knowledge of primary and secondary colour combinations. Sometimes, it takes several hours to paint each face. Photo location: Kasaragod, India. (Photo and caption by Rafal Ziejewski/National Geographic Photo Contest)

The Malabar Giant squirrel – double the size of their grey relatives and measuring up to 36 inches (91.5 cm) from head to tail – lives deep in the forests of India. The athletic animals can leap an incredible 20 feet (6 m) between trees. Photographer Kaushik Vijayan, 39, snapped the animals in their native habit to produce these stunning images. Kaushik, from Kerala State, India, said: “Up until that point I had never heard about a squirrel like that or seen one. The sight was an absolute feast for my eyes. The squirrels fascinated me and I got excited to capture this beauty on my camera”. (Photo by Kaushik Vijayan/South West News Service)