Due to heavy rains, they order the evacuation of Montecito, the Californian town where Enrique and Meghan live

The Californian town of Montecito, Home to Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, it was the subject of an evacuation order on Monday amid fears landslides could bury homes.

Montecito, population 9,000 and a haunt of celebrities including Oprah Winfrey and Jennifer Aniston, is expected to receive about 200 millimeters of rain in 24 hours, on hillsides already inundated by weeks of downpours.

Emergency authorities in the city located 90 minutes from Los Angeles urged to leave the area.

“GO NOW! This is a rapidly evolving situation. Pay close attention to emergency alerts,” the fire department said on its website.

The city with multi-million dollar properties is especially vulnerable to landslidessince it is located at the foot of a mountain range that was the scene of a fire five years ago that destroyed hundreds of square kilometers, stripping the slopes of the vegetation that normally maintains firm ground.

A journalist from the AFP said they had settled police checkpoints to prevent people from entering the city, with several streets flooded. Residents were leaving the area.

Former host Ellen DeGeneres posted a video on Twitter of a raging creek. “This is crazy,” she told her followers.

“The stream by our house never flows. It’s probably about nine feet (2.7 meters) high, and it’s going to go up another two feet (more than half a meter).”

It was not clear how many of the town’s residents, who also include Larry David, Gwyneth Paltrow, Katy Perry and Rob Lowe, complied with the order to evacuate.

cyclone parade

The Montecito evacuation order came at a time when California receives the scourge of a series of storms that already leave 12 dead.

Warnings have been issued for several regions of the so-called Golden State that has been suffering from the incessant rainfall in recent weeks.

“Two major torrential rain events and heavy snowfall from the mountains are expected to affect California in rapid succession over the next two days in connection with two of the most energetic and moisture-laden cyclones heading directly toward California,” the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

The rains will continue this Tuesday, bathing the dry portion of the south of the state, while the Sierra Nevada mountains could receive up to 1.8 meters of snow.

Governor Gavin Newsom announced a state of emergency last week.

“We believe the worst is yet to comeNewsom told the media.

The governor had asked on Sunday for an emergency presidential order for his state, something that Joe Biden approved on Monday, when some 80,000 remained without electricity.

“The cumulative effect of successive torrential rains will lead to more flooding”, warned the weather service.

“This includes rapidly rising water, landslides, and the possibility of large river floods. Susceptible land and areas close to recent fires will be the most exposed to risk from debris flows and rapid currents.

Although it is not unusual to see heavy rain in California during the winter, the current rainfall comes after an intense drought that parched the western United States for more than two decadeswhich also led to a large increase in forest fires, in quantity and intensity.

Scientists say that these drastic changes in the climate, with more intense rains and droughts, are the product of climate change.

In San Francisco, storms last week left two dead and thousands without power. (YO)