Meghan Markle, Prince Harry on high alert as rainstorms, mudslides trigger havoc in Montecito

Tens of thousands of residents were under evacuation orders in different towns of California on Tuesday as the state was ravaged by the latest in a barrage of storms that have left several people dead.

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle are also thinking to evacuate their Montecito mansion as the town has been pounded by heavy rain, threatening dangerous mudslides on hills already sodden by weeks of downpours and sparking an evacuation order.

"Because the mountains are right there, when it really rains, it comes down at a really high rate... it´s pretty dangerous pretty quickly," resident Daniel DeMuyer told AFP.

"That´s the price of living in such a beautiful place, when it rains like this, it causes a lot of destruction."

Montecito, whose multi-million dollar properties are surrounded by breathtaking California countryside, is particularly vulnerable to mudslides because it sits at the foot of a mountain range that was ravaged by fire five years ago.

Hundreds of square miles (kilometers) were scorched, stripping the hillsides of the vegetation that normally keeps soil in place.

But an evacuation order for the town -- home to stars including Ellen DeGeneres, Gwyneth Paltrow, Katy Perry, and Rob Lowe -- was lifted on Tuesday.

Torrential downpours caused flash flooding, closed key highways, toppled trees and swept away drivers and passengers -- including a five-year-old-boy who remains missing in central California -- with even more rain and snow set to batter America´s most populous state. Around 110,000 California homes and businesses were without power Tuesday.

A fresh storm is set to pound the state with as much as seven inches (18 centimeters) of new rain in northern California by Wednesday and several more feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains, the National Weather Service said.

The NWS described an "endless onslaught of atmospheric river events" that is the most powerful storm system since 2005. California Governor Gavin Newsom said at least 34,000 people had been told to flee the storm, with more danger expected.

"The fact is that we´re not out of the woods; we expect these storms to continue at least through the 18th of this month," he told reporters. We now have 17 confirmed -- and I underscore ´confirmed´ tragically -- just confirmed deaths."

The town of Montecito, home to Britain´s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, was pounded by rain -- threatening dangerous mudslides on hills already sodden by weeks of downpours -- and sparking an evacuation order.

"Because the mountains are right there, when it really rains, it comes down at a really high rate... it´s pretty dangerous pretty quickly," resident Daniel DeMuyer told AFP.