Historic California flooding KILLS 3, keeps 38M under flood alerts

02/08/2024 / By Kevin Hughes

Three people have died while 38 million have been kept under flood alerts as the historic flooding in California thrashed multimillion-dollar mansions in star-studded Beverly Hills, Malibu and Montecito neighborhoods.

The mansions of celebrities such as Harry and Meghan, George Clooney, Lady Gaga and Halle Berry were among those battered by the storm. There were three confirmed deaths related to the severe weather so far.

Chad Ensey, 41, died at his home in Sacramento on Sunday, Feb. 4, when a tree fell on him during the storm, according to a report by NBC News. David Gomes, 82, died after he was struck by a huge redwood tree in Yuba City, northern California, on Sunday night, as reported by ABC10. An unidentified resident of Boulder Creek, California, also died from injuries suffered after a tree fell into their home on Sunday.

An atmospheric river carried gusty winds to the Bay Area and Central Coast on Sunday, with powerful winds in the Coastal Mountains, as stated by the National Weather Service. (Related: Hurricane Idalia batters Florida with catastrophic flooding, leaving some areas uninhabitable for “months” and at least 270,000 people without power.)

According to the chief operating officer of California Utility Pacific Gas & Electric, Sunday’s storm was one of the most destructive single-day storms on record in terms of outages. Nearly 2.5 million people in the Los Angeles area, including Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills, have already amassed up to nine inches of rain.

“This has the potential to be a historic storm, severe winds, thunderstorms, and even brief tornadoes,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said during a news conference.

California’s 10th wettest day on record

Los Angeles experienced its 10th wettest day on record on Sunday, and the downtown area alone was flooded with 4.1 inches of rain.

The San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles County were not only getting soaked, but the storm was anticipated to stall or reverse course over some regions, making serious threat of flooding and mudslides.

Much of California was still drying out from an earlier storm that also brought flooding in lower elevations and snowfall in mountains. Both storms were created by the Pineapple Express systems – atmospheric rivers that pick up plucks of moisture from the Pacific near the Hawaiian Islands.

The National Weather Service (NWS) released a flood watch until 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 6, which covered many neighborhoods in California. Some residents have been evacuated as well.

During an operation in the early hours of Monday, Feb. 5, LA firefighters rescued 16 people from nine properties in Studio City – the same neighborhood where Clooney lives in his $2.2 million luxury pad. Residents in the same neighborhood woke up Monday morning to find mud, rocks and debris scattered across the streets.

The $14.65 million Montecito mansion of Harry and Meghan also got pounded by the storm. The Duke of Sussex left his wife and two children in California to visit his father, King Charles III, in London after the British monarch was diagnosed with cancer.

Malibu has also been hit by heavy rain. The city was put under a coastal flood warning, with the NWS warning residents to stay out of the water because of “dangerous surf conditions.”

The luxury beachside city is home to people like Berry, who has an $8.5 million mansion complete with an outdoor jacuzzi that she sometimes flaunts on Instagram. Lady Gaga also owns a sprawling Malibu mansion, which is the same property where Bradley Cooper gave her the starring role of Ally in the movie “A Star Is Born,” which won her an Oscar.

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Watch the video below as NTD anchor Tiffany Meier reports about the major California floods.

This video is from the Pool Pharmacy channel on Brighteon.com.