Floods have been devastating Southern California this week, and over 10,000 residents from Montecito down to Santa Cruz have been given mandatory evacuation orders in light of the dangerous conditions.
As of early Tuesday afternoon, at least 12 people have been confirmed dead from the storms, and terrifying videos have been circling the internet showing people riding boats inside their homes, cars floating on streets, and dangerous rainfall filling homes with “ice cold” water.
@julianrodrigo1972 #screammovie heavy downpours in #bakersfield #california #castorm #flooding ♬ Scary – Ramuone
@delamare22 California Cyclone Flooding 2023 The water is ice cold. My poor guinea hens lost their coop, but are more concerned about me! #flooding #floodedhouse #northerncalifornia #flooded #flood ♬ Cyclone (feat. T-Pain) – Baby Bash
@daniboo2222 Moved to LA for the weather and accidentaly moved during a cyclone 🙂 #californiaflood #citygirlera #losangeles #bombcyclone ♬ Oh No – Kreepa
Among those documenting the devastation was comedian Ellen Degeneres, who took a video near her home in Montecito showing the flooding.
“We are having unprecedented rain,” she tells viewers. “This creek near our house never flows, ever, it’s probably about 9 feet, it’s gonna go another 2 feet up … We need to be nicer to Mother Nature.”
It’s estimated that an astounding 33 million Californians (roughly 10% of the entire U.S. population) are under flood watches and warnings from the storms and the subsequent after-effects.
“Just as the last episode of heavy precipitation across California is beginning to wind down early this morning, another energetic low-pressure system is quickly gathering strength off the West Coast and heading once again toward California,” the National Weather Service said early Tuesday morning. “An enormous cyclone forming well off the coast of the North American continent will bring yet another Atmospheric River toward the West Coast–this time impacting areas further north from northern California northward up the coast of the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday.”
The NWS explained that “nearly all of California” has maintained above-average levels of rainfall by nearly 400% to 600% more than is standard for this time of year.
According to Reuters, up to 220,000 businesses and homes were out of power as of Tuesday morning, with up to 7 inches of rainfall expected to accumulate in some areas of the state by Wednesday.