USA, California. Violent storms. Prince Harry among the inhabitants of the evacuated town. Fallen trees, risk of floods and mudslides

The last in a series of violent and devastating thunderstorms passed through California on Monday. The state was again hit by heavy rain with very strong winds. Tens of thousands of people were left without electricity and some schools were closed. Streets and highways turned into torrential rivers, trees were downed, mudslides were reported, and drivers were hit with roadblocks caused by falling debris, the AP reported.

President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency to support storm relief efforts in more than a dozen California counties.

The death toll rose to at least 14. A day earlier, Governor Gavin Newsom reported that at least 12 people, including a two-year-old child, had died in California in the previous 10 days due to dangerous weather conditions.

On Monday, a dramatic event occurred in the central coast of the state, in the city of Paso Robles. The water took the boy from the car there. The search for the child is underway. People managed to pull his mother out of the sinking vehicle.

Due to the risk of flooding and mudslides, 25,000 people were evacuated on Monday, including the entire coastal community of Montecito. Among the nearly nine thousand residents of Montecito, more than 140 kilometers from Los Angeles, there are many celebrities and celebrities, including the British Prince Harry and his wife Meghan and the American journalist and TV producer Oprah Winfrey.

Prince Harry is currently promoting his autobiography. It is not clear if he was at his home or if he was among those who had to leave the area. It is known that Winfrey was in Hawaii, the Reuters news agency reported.

Montecito is also inhabited by the famous actress, screenwriter and TV presenter Ellen DeGeneres. She posted a video on Twitter of herself standing in the rain next to a flooded creek. She explained that she had only been asked to take shelter where she was staying because her house was on a hill.

“We have to be kinder to Mother Nature because she’s not happy with us,” DeGeneres said in the short video. “Be safe,” she added.

About 14,000 people from four communities in Santa Cruz County have been ordered to evacuate along the central coast of California. There were flash floods there.

Nearly 4,000 people in Wilton, near Sacramento, California, were also ordered to evacuate due to flooding. Levees along the Cosumnes River have been breached. Another 42,000 people from more than a dozen counties received an evacuation warning.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has warned of rainfall of 25 liters of water per hour. It issued a flood alert for much of northern and central California. Heavy downpours are also predicted throughout the night from Monday to Tuesday local time.

Meteorologists have warned that most of California’s 39 million residents will be affected by Monday’s storm. On Monday morning, local time, 120,000 homes and businesses were without power.

Recent downpours in California are the cause of another atmospheric river in recent weeks. It is a short-lived wind tunnel phenomenon that transports huge amounts of water vapor from ocean waters. Reaching land, it drops rapidly in the form of heavy rain or heavy snowfall.

Earlier, the US state, in conjunction with an atmospheric river, was also hit by a bomb cyclone, which is defined as an extensive system of low pressure characterized by very strong winds and heavy rainfall. According to experts, climate change is causing an increase in the frequency and intensity of such phenomena, bringing downpours and strong winds, cutting through long periods of severe drought.