Since late December California has been experiencing rain storms, and high winds like never before. Due to the heavy rain and strong winds, 17 people have been killed, and the flash floods and mudslides aren’t helping. Over fifty-one thousand homes are without power, debris and mudslides are blocking roads, and citizens are having trouble evacuating. Many homes and streets have been flooded and emergency services have been swamped while attempting to clear trees from the road and repair levees. Sadly a 5-year-old boy named Kyle was swept up along with the floods near San Miguel and over 200 personnel are looking for him. It’s still too early to estimate but the damage from these storms seems like it’ll exceed one billion dollars, compared to last year when the U.S. went through 18 weather and climate disasters that combined, equaled one billion dollars. This would be 2023’s first recorded billion-dollar disaster.