California Flooding: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Oprah Winfrey and More Celebs Asked to Evacuate

Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Oprah Winfrey and more celebs living in the town of Montecito, California, are facing mandatory evacuations amid the threat of flooding in the area. Authorities in Santa Barbara County issued an evacuation order Monday as a result of the ongoing storm.

"Immediate Evacuation Order for all of Montecito, parts of Carpinteria, Summerland & City of Santa Barbara. LEAVE NOW," the Montecito Fire Department tweeted Monday.

Harry and Meghan famously moved to the area in 2020, following their royal exit and departure from the U.K. Oprah also famously lives in the area, with Montecito serving as Winfrey's home base for over 20 years. Winfrey hosted her interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at her home in March of 2021.

Ellen DeGeneres, who also lives in the Montecito area, shared a video of the flooding happening around her home. In the clip, the former daytime host appears in front of a rapidly flowing creek, filled with muddied water as she urges those in the area to stay safe.

"Montecito is under complete evacuation -- the entire town," DeGeneres begins. "This is the five-year anniversary of the fire and mudslides that killed so many people."

"People lost their homes, their lives" she continued. "This is crazy. On the five-year anniversary, we're having unprecedented rain. This creek next to our house never flows, ever. It's probably about nine feet up, and it's going another two feet up."

Because she and her wife, Portia de Rossi's home is on higher ground, DeGeneres said they will be sheltering in place for now. 

"We have horses ready to evacuate," she added. "We need to be nicer to mother nature, 'cause mother nature is not happy with us. Let's all do our part. Stay safe everybody."

Echoing a similar sentiment in the caption, DeGeneres wrote, "Montecito is under mandatory evacuation. We are on higher ground so they asked us to shelter in place, Please stay safe everyone."

Other celebs who live in the Santa Barbara-area town include Ariana Grande and her husband, Dalton Gomez, Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo as well as Rob Lowe and his wife, Sheryl Berkoff.

While fire officials said Montecito received more than five inches of rain between 3:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., the worst is yet to come, with heavy rain expected in the afternoon and into the evening.

"The heaviest rain is yet to come this afternoon and evening. If your home is within the evacuation order area, please leave now," they wrote.

Billy Baldwin also shared a video of the flooding, tweeting, "Santa Barbara right now."

Authorities are urging those in the area to call the Santa Barbara County Call Center at 833-688-5551 or call 2-1-1 for more information regarding the evacuations.

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