Kevin Costner misses Golden Globes as storm flooding hammers celebrity enclaves Santa Barbara and Montecito

Kevin Costner was blocked from accepting his Golden Globes win as he hunkered down at home while storms ravaging California hammered the celebrity enclave of Santa Barbara.

The Yellowstone star announced he and his wife Christine Baumgarter would not be able to attend in a Twitter video before the ceremony kicked off on Tuesday night.

“Hi everyone. Look, I’m so sorry for everyone who might have been tuning in to watch the Golden Globes — Chris and I aren’t going to be there,” he said.

“Yesterday we had to pull the kids out of school in Santa Barbara. This is the second time in five years that the freeway has flooded out, we found ourselves on the wrong side of the town and we couldn’t get back last night.”

He continued: “Nobody’s sadder than us that we can’t be there at the Golden Globes. Chris had a beautiful dress, I was looking forward to walking down the red carpet with her.

“I’m just so sorry that I can’t be there. I really wanted to, I know how bad Chris wanted to support me. She went out and bought me some gold and yellow and black and silver balloons so we’re going to sit at the television and see what happens.”

After Costner was crowned winner of the 2023 Actor in Drama Series award, his trophy was collected by presenter Regina Hall.

The actress struggled to keep a straight face as she explained that Costner was unable to attend due to fierce storms causing chaos across the region - poking fun at his affluent community.

“Because of the — it’s been raining — the unprecedented weather and flooding, he has to shelter in place in Santa Barbara,” she said.

“Everyone, we do, we pray and we hope everyone affected by these storms remains safe,” Hall added. “I’m gonna accept that award right there, on your behalf, Kevin.”

Costner is hardly the only Hollywood A-lister to get caught up in the storms bearing down on Southern California this week.

In nearby Montecito, Ellen DeGeneres shared an alarming video from her home on Monday as intense flooding hit the celebrity-filled area.

Residents of the city, which is home to stars including Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, were placed under an evacuation order as more heavy weather was due through Tuesday evening.

Sharing a selfie video on Instagram, DeGeneres showed followers a creek next to her house, which normally “never flows, ever” but in the clip was a raging brown torrent of water. “It’s probably about nine feet [high],” the TV host remarked.

“We need to be nicer to mother nature,” DeGeneres warned, “because mother nature is not happy with us.”

In the caption to her post, DeGeneres explained that while Montecito is under mandatory evacuation, she had been advised to “shelter in place” as their house was on higher ground.

The star also noted that the storm fell on the five-year anniversary of the 2018 mudslides that hit Montecito, killing 23 people and destroying many homes.

Santa Barbara emergency officials have issued a shelter in place warning for those not already evacuated, advising them to go to innermost room or high ground.

More severe weather is forecast for California this week after days of heavy rain, snow and damaging winds, raising the potential for flooding, rising rivers and mudslides on already saturated soils.

Follow live updates from the California storms and flooding here.