Heavy rain was still expected for Tuesday in California, where storms that have raged for ten days have already killed 12 people and prompted authorities to order the evacuation of the wealthy city of Montecito, home to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, threatened by landslides. .
Located an hour and a half drive north of Los Angeles, this seaside city of about 9,000 is a celebrity hangout. Actress Jennifer Aniston and television host Oprah Winfrey, among others, own homes there worth millions of dollars.
“EVACUATE NOW!” city firefighters urged on their website Monday, advising residents to closely follow various alerts from authorities, because “the situation is changing rapidly.”
region devoid of vegetation
Authorities have forecast up to 20 centimeters of rain in 24 hours in the area, on hills already saturated with water from storms in recent days. Enough to make the city, surrounded by mountains largely weakened by a fire five years ago, extremely vulnerable to landslides.
In 2017-2018, a large fire devastated around 1,100 km2 in the surrounding area. Therefore, the area is deprived of vegetation that generally stabilizes the soil.
Monday’s evacuation order comes five years after 23 people died from heavy rains that triggered landslides in the city.
In Montecito, where actors Rob Lowe, Larry David, Gwyneth Paltrow and singer Katy Perry also reside, residents were evacuating their homes, but it was not yet clear how many had followed the evacuation order. Spokesmen for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex did not respond to a request for comment.
Police blockades and flooded roads
Police had erected barricades to prevent anyone from entering the city, where several roads were completely flooded, an AFP journalist said.
“Over the past 30 days, Montecito has experienced between 12 and 20 inches (30 and 50 cm, editor’s note) of rain depending on location, well beyond our annual average of 17 inches (43 cm, editor’s note) “, they have recalled. firefighters on Twitter. “This accumulated rainfall puts the community at greater risk of flooding and mudslides.”
On Monday, television host Ellen DeGeneres, who also lives in Montecito, posted a video on Twitter showing a torrent of raging muddy water.
“It’s crazy,” she said in alarm. “That creek next to our house absolutely never flows.”
“We need to be more considerate of Mother Nature, because Mother Nature is not happy with us,” he added.
“The Worst Ahead”
The area was not the only one to be evacuated on Monday, in the face of the series of storms currently battering California that have already claimed more than 12 lives.
In Santa Cruz County near San Francisco, where a pier was destroyed last week, more than 30,000 residents are also affected by an evacuation order.
Several regions have experienced near-record rainfall in recent days. The ground is completely saturated with water and the US Weather Service (NWS) has issued flood warnings for much of California.
In the center of the state, the models predict, for example, up to 13 centimeters of precipitation on Monday, on soils already completely saturated with water. And the rain should continue on Tuesday.
“Two significant episodes of heavy rain and snow are expected in California over the next two days,” the NWS said.
Deluge
“We hope the worst is yet to come,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who declared a state of emergency last week, told reporters on Sunday.
At night, about 80,000 homes were left without power, according to the specialized site PowerOutage.
While it’s hard to make a direct link between these storms and climate change, scientists regularly explain that warming increases the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.
Last week’s storm had already knocked out power to tens of thousands of people, triggered severe flooding and landslides. It had arrived just days after another deluge of rain on New Year’s Eve.
However, the exceptional rains of the last few days will not be enough to replenish the water reserves in California, which has suffered a severe drought for two decades. This would require several winters with higher-than-normal rainfall, according to experts.
Source: BFM TV
