Ellen DeGeneres shares video of raging flood waters near home as Montecito evacuated during storm
As powerful storms wreak havoc in California, Ellen DeGeneres, who lives in the affluent town of Montecito, posted a video of raging floodwaters near her house, pleading with people to "be nicer to Mother Nature."
Montecito is currently under an evacuation order, but DeGeneres said in the caption of the video that she was told to shelter in place, since she is on higher ground. The video shows the raging creek next to her house, which she said had increased by nine feet because of the storm.
"This is the five-year anniversary from the fire and mudslides that killed [people] and people lost their homes, their lives," she said. "This is crazy. On the five-year anniversary, we're having unprecedented rain."
"Mother Nature is not happy with us," she said. "Let's all do our part."
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Ellen DeGeneres (@ellendegeneres)
Montecito is also home to famous names like Oprah Winfrey and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan.
During the 2018 mudslide, 23 people died and more than 100 homes were destroyed, according to the Associated Press. The area is also recovering from recent wildfires.
The National Weather Service's Los Angeles office shared several images of the massive floods in the area, nearly completely submerging vehicles parked on a street.
View earlier from Spring Street in Santa Barbara. https://t.co/LrFth6leVm
— NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) January 10, 2023
But Montecito and surrounding towns in Santa Barbara County are not the only places in California being pummeled by rough weather.
Parts of nearby San Luis Obispo County were under flash flood warnings on Tuesday and NWS also warned of the threat of wind and hail.
A young boy went missing in the flood waters, with only his shoe turning up during a roughly seven-hour search, according to the AP. The boy has not been declared dead, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Tony Cipolla said. Officials had to call off the search as water levels were too dangerous for divers, officials said.
A sinkhole in Santa Maria in northern Santa Barbara County forced 20 homes to be evacuated, NWS says.
On Monday night, flash flood warnings were issued for parts of Los Angeles County.
After two days of the downpour, parts of Los Angeles County received nearly six inches of rain, while parts of San Luis Obispo county received more than 10 inches and parts of Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties received more than 16 inches, according to the service.
"Some INCREDIBLE totals for the area," the service said Tuesday. "Expect more rain today as showers and isolated thunderstorms will continue."
Latest rainfall summary for the current storm:https://t.co/Z7fqkvNq1L
— NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) January 10, 2023
Some INCREDIBLE totals for the area. Expect more rain today as showers and isolated thunderstorms will continue. #CAwx
The storm is part of a stream of bad weather, caused by an "atmospheric river" coming in from the Pacific. Atmospheric rivers are long regions in the atmosphere that transport water. The water vapor they carry is roughly equivalent to the average flow of water at the mouth of the Mississippi River, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
So, when they make landfall and release all that water, they can cause extreme flooding. They are an important part of the world's ocean water cycle, often contributing to water supplies, NOAA points out.
Several atmospheric river storms have hit cities up and down the state of California since Dec. 26. and while California's central coast is being hit hard this week, the Bay Area was also smacked with powerful storms that caused flooding, mudslides and power outages.
Parts of the Bay Area were still under flood warnings this week, and the weather service warned about hail, powerful winds and steep waves in some parts early Tuesday.
Last week's storm in the Bay Area was predicted to "likely be one of the most impactful systems on a widespread scale that this meteorologist has seen in a long while," National Weather Service's Bay Area office said in a statement. They called the storm a "brutal system."
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- Ellen DeGeneres
- Montecito
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Caitlin O'Kane is a digital content producer covering trending stories for CBS News and its good news brand, The Uplift.
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