AERIAL VIEW of Montecito, near Santa Barbara. The city under a mandatory evacuation order (Shutterstock/Matt Gush).

The affluent community of Montecito – home to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle – near Santa Barbara is under  a mandatory order of evacuation.

According to the Associated Press, it’s part of the powerful storms hitting California. They’ve knocked out electrical power, caused flooding, damaged houses and closed schools and businesses.

Montecito is especially vulnerable because fires have stripped vegetation from the canyons in that area, making mudslides and flooding more likely.

Already in Santa Barbara County there are reports of creeks overflowing and roads being flooded and becoming impassable.

New task for McCarthy: new rules

KEVIN McCARTHY, Speaker of the House (Wikipedia).

Now that Kevin McCarthy has finally been elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, he’s in the process of seeking to assemble enough votes to enact the changes in House rules to which he agreed in order to win some votes.

According to The New York Times, the first one is a rule that would allow lawmakers to use spending bills to defund some programs and discharge federal officials or cut their pay.

That would please the conservative Freedom Caucus but would be a tough sell to more moderate Republicans. Additionally, bills passed by the House under that rule  would likely fail in the Senate, and/or be vetoed by President Joe Biden.

Also in the news … Damar Hamlin, the Buffalo Bills safety who suffered a heart attack during a game, has been  released from the hospital in Cincinnati and is back in Buffalo.

Sports: Dogs whip Frogs 65-7 for title

The Georgia Bulldogs made history Monday night both by winning a second consecutive college football championship, but also by winning by the biggest margin ever, 65-7 over the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs.

Quarterback Stetson Bennett was the star of the night, accounting – passing and running – for six touchdowns before he was pulled from the game early in the fourth quarter.

He completed 18 of 25 passes for 304 yards and four touchdowns. He rushed for 39 yards and two more scores.

Georgia finishes 15-0 and TCU is 13-2.

Weather: Yes, that’s thunder you hear

The West Orange County area is in for some noise and rain on Tuesday. The forecast is for thunderstorms with a daytime high of 61 and an overnight low of 46.  Wednesday will be drier and quieter with partly cloudy skies and a high of 63 with a low of 46. Cloudy conditions should continued through Friday with the rain returning on Saturday.