Strong storms force the evacuation of the city where Prince Harry and Megan Markle live
After more than a week of intense storms in California (USA) and the death of no less than 12 people, the authorities have ordered the evacuation of the Montecito area (Santa Barbara), where personalities such as the Dukes of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, along with their children; the journalist Oprah Winfrey, the actress Jennifer Aniston or the presenter Ellen DeGeneres. All of them with huge residences valued at millions of dollars.
Last Monday, the authorities ordered the evacuation of the city and advised residents to closely follow the alerts, given the rapidly changing weather situation. California Governor Gavin Newson declared a state of emergency on Sunday.
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Terrible storms in which the authorities have confirmed that the area is saturated with water, which together with the weakness of the territory after the fires that occurred five years ago, makes it an extremely dangerous point. Many of the residents are still recovering from the fires that ravaged the area in 2017, razing almost 1,100 km2 in the surrounding area. The area is deprived of the vegetation that generally stabilizes the soil, making the area extremely vulnerable to landslides.
The presenter Ellen DeGeneres shared with her followers on Twitter some images that showed how dangerous the situation is in Montecito. In the video, the communicator can be seen on a hill next to one of the overflows in the area, right next to her house. DeGeneres assures in the recording that in that area “water never circulates”, but recent storms have changed that.
“They have forced us to evacuate and they have asked us to seek refuge,” says the communicator, who goes on to try to describe the fury of the water: “It will be almost three meters high, and it can go up another half meter,” she recounts, showing the images of the water, passing with violence: “We need to be kinder to Mother Nature, because she is not happy with us. Let’s do what she has to do. Stay safe,” she asked her followers.
In addition to Montecito, authorities have also ordered the evacuation of residents of neighboring Sycamore Canyon and San Luis Obispo County towns, also with prior experience in extreme flooding disasters.
Host Ellen DeGeneres also had to evacuate her home during the 2018 floods.
An evacuation order that comes five years after 23 people died from strong storms, caused precisely by landslides in the city.
