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Sunday’s storms brought more rain to Northern California, but they also helped the state hit a key milestone in its efforts to recover from the historic four-year drought.

Shasta Lake, the largest reservoir in California and a critical source of water for Central Valley farms and cities from the Bay Area to Bakersfield, reached 100 percent of its historic average Sunday as billions of gallons continued to pour in from drenching downpours. The 21-mile-long reservoir, north of Redding, holds enough water when full for the needs of 23 million people for a year.

The El Nino storms drenching California won’t suffice to solve the state’s drought and won’t permanently save the Central Valley’s vulnerable salmon, federal scientists are cautioning.

In an apolitical assessment that comes amid a highly political time, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts stress that this year’s El Nino bounty is useful and limited. It might well be followed, moreover, by a swing back to a different kind of weather complication called La Nina.

As the chances that California’s drought will end this year become increasingly slim, the Metropolitan Water District is weighing the possibility of discontinuing its popular turf removal rebate program.

The MWD Finance and Insurance Committee met a few weeks ago to discuss the budget for the next two years. Currently, none of the proposed $59 million set aside for conservation programs is intended to be used for the turf program.

The ongoing deluge of storms in Northern California has swelled lakes and dams, boosting the prospects for outdoor recreation but likely falling short of ending the drought. Heavy rain hit the region north of San Francisco on Thursday with four inches expected by Friday, the National Weather Service said. In Santa Rosa, the storm caused a partial roof collapse at a Kmart store. No injuries were reported.

Flash-flood warnings were issued for swelling rivers and streams in Marin and Sonoma counties north of San Francisco.

A proposed California ballot initiative would reallocate more than $10 billion from the High Speed Rail project and the 2014 water bond to instead fund water storage projects. But opponents say it could do much more than that. Some Republican lawmakers who have long fought for water storage projects, environmentalists, and some farmers say the measure is an attempt to misguide voters.

“It is a classic case where people really have to understand, this is not about High Speed Rail,” says Jay Ziegler with the Nature Conservancy. “It’s about fundamentally reordering water law and water rights in California.”