Apparently, the recent California wildfires are because of the fires they’ve been dealing with. When soil is burnt, it can’t absorb as much water. So when heavy rain fell earlier this week, it triggered loose mud to slide down and uproot things like trees and rocks. The mudslides in California have now killed at least 17 people and more than a dozen are missing.

Oprah talked with Ellen on her show yesterday about the mudslides near her house in Montecito, California. Oprah says she woke up in the middle of the night and saw a gas fire nearby, but she didn’t know about the damage from the mudslides until morning.  All her neighbors’ houses are gutted.