The impressive rains that have lashed the Californiawhere several “bomb cyclone” type storms caused the death of 14 peopleled to the evacuation of many areas where famous actors and celebrities such as the Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, especially the city of Montecito.
“Winter storms killed 14 Californians, or more than wildfires in the past two years,” the state governor’s office said in a statement. Gavin Newsom.
“We have several days of bad weather ahead”he added the note urging people to be “hypervigilant”.
In Paso Robles, a town between Los Angeles and San Francisco, 5 year old boy missing after being wiped out on Monday, local media reported, citing the sheriff’s office.
The region is expecting heavy rain, storms and very high winds on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
Faced with this scenario, the authorities of Montecito, a paradise inhabited by 9,000 people, including celebrities, businessmen and politicians located 90 minutes from Los Angeles, have urged people to leave the area with a strong message: “Go, now! This is a rapidly evolving situation. Pay close attention to emergency alerts,” the fire department said on its website.
It’s just that this city filled with multimillion-dollar properties is especially vulnerable to landslides. It is located at the foot of a mountain range that five years ago was the scene of a fire that destroyed hundreds of square kilometers stripped the slopes of vegetation which normally holds the ground in place.
Among the celebrities affected is the television host Elena Degeneres, who posted a video on Twitter of a rushing torrent of brown water. “It’s crazy,” she told her followers.
“The stream that is near our house it never flows. It’s probably about nine feet (2.7 meters) tall and will go up another two feet (more than half a meter).”
It is unclear how many of the city’s residents, which also include Larry David, Gwyneth Paltrow, Katy Perry and Rob Lowe, They complied with the evacuation order, but the authorities deny having done so to save their lives.
The actress Jennifer Aniston and TV presenter Oprah Winfreyby the way, he owns homes worth millions of dollars in Montecito.
The spokespersons of Duke and Duchess of Sussex They did not respond to a request for comment. However, rumors claim that Prince Harry and his wife have already left the place.
The area should have received up to 200mm of rain between today and tomorrow. Over the past 30 days, Montecito has received rainfall “well above our annual average,” firefighters said on Twitter.
The police have set up barricades to prevent access to the city, where several streets have been completely flooded, noted a reporter from the AFP news agency.
That area is not the only one where evacuations have been ordered. santa cruz countynear San Francisco, more than 30,000 inhabitants they were also ordered out of there.
Several areas have experienced near record rainfall in recent days. The grounds are completely flooded and the Weather Service has issued flood warnings for much of California 220,000 homes were without electricity this Tuesday, according to the specialized site PowerOutage.
While it’s difficult to establish a direct relationship between storms and climate change, scientists say the global warming increases the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.
Last week’s storm left tens of thousands without electricity, caused severe flooding and triggered landslides. It came a few days after another deluge of rain New Year’s Eve.
Source: Clarin
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.