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Oprah met with some of the heroes going out and searching for the missing in her community after devastating mudslides this week ... including a few 4-legged ones.

O posted a vid talking to search and rescue workers in Montecito Saturday, which included some awesome dogs ... especially her new pal, Mondo.

She wrote, "People not the only heroes in our little community. Met some 4 legged ones too. Searches continuing today."

The rescue worker also gives Oprah a lesson in how the canines operate and how they differ.

As we reported ... Oprah's community's been ravaged by the mudslides -- including the home of her neighbor, Jeff Bridges.

At least 18 people have died and 6 are still missing.

Someone or something messed up BIG TIME and sent an emergency alert to phones of Hawaii residents saying there was a ballistic missile threat inbound, but fortunately ... it was a major false alarm.

A little after 8AM in Hawaii, people's phones starting going off with the alert, and this is what they saw:

Yikes. Despite saying "This is not a drill," Hawaii emergency officials have confirmed there is no missile threat and the alert was sent as a mistake.

A follow-up message was sent to Hawaii residents -- albeit 40 minutes later -- to let them know the message was a false alarm.

Bella Thorne may get the award for the most self-absorbed celebrity after going off that the mudslides inconvenienced her because the debris is blocking her from attending her boyfriend's concert.

Thorne tweeted, then deleted this:

Rob Lowe, who lives in the area, found out about Thorne's tweet and responded, "This attitude is why people hate celebrities/Hollywood. Bella, I'm sorry you were inconvenienced. We will try to move out our dead quicker."

The scent of a woman will be pussy if a budding entrepreneur can nail down a trademark for her new line of fragrances inspired by the enduring symbol of the Women's March ... the pussyhat.

Fran Moss filed docs with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in hopes of flooding the market with fragrance-emitting wicks, sachets, pet sprays, body sprays and perfumes -- all with the pussy label.

According to the docs, Fran's toying with product names like pussy juice, pussy power, pussy now, and pussy positive. She also wants her trademark to include the "pussy power color" pink, and the pussyhat ears.

Good luck, Fran -- and if you're looking for a spokeswoman ...

Oprah's potential presidential hopes are taking an immediate backseat to Mother Nature -- 'cause her and her neighbors' homes have been rocked by mudslides in Montecito.

O posted video of property damage around what appears to be her main house in Santa Barbara County after torrential rainfall caused flash flooding and deadly mudslides in the area. She's also got a separate horse farm nearby.

You can see mud getting as high as her knees here in what used to be the pristine grounds surrounding her property. She says her neighbors got the worst of it.

Oprah isn't the only star to be affected by the mudslides -- which have killed at least 15 people in Southern California so far. Rob Lowe tweeted about the natural disaster, as did Ellen DeGeneres and Bella and Gigi Hadid.

As we reported ... rumors have been swirling this week that Oprah might be considering a presidential bid for 2020. She's clearly not thinking about that right now, though.

6:05 AM PT -- The fire is extinguished, and firefighters say 2 civilians were injured -- one potentially life-threatening -- as well as one firefighter.

Trump Tower provided an eerie canvas for a photographer who snapped this pic as an area of the building burned.

A fire erupted Monday just after 7 AM ET and obviously NYC fire crews rushed to the scene. Especially because of the building owner, law enforcement had a large and quick reaction.

The fire started on the roof and we're told it was some kind of electrical malfunction. There were no evacuations and no injuries. The fire was quickly extinguished.

Alex Trebek is taking a break from game show duties to recover from surgery he needed after taking a nasty fall a couple months ago.

The "Jeopardy!" host revealed Thursday he's out on medical leave to recover from a subdural hematoma suffered during the fall. Sounds very serious, but Alex downplayed it, calling it "a slight medical problem."

Trebek says docs discovered blood clots on his brain, but he's already undergone surgery and "the prognosis is excellent." He assures fans he'll be back soon.

Michael B. Jordan is positive climate change is the real deal, escaping NYC juuuust before the so-called "bomb cyclone" shut down the city, along with most of the eastern seaboard.

The "Black Panther" star says he spent 3 long hours on the tarmac at JFK before his plane eventually took off for LAX, where we got him Thursday.

Hoda Kotb isn't sweating reports she's making $18 million less than Matt Lauer after taking over his "Today" co-anchor seat ... and insists there's no bad blood with her ex-coworker.

We got Hoda Wednesday morning outside 30 Rock, and she said Matt sent her a congratulatory text after finding out she got the gig. Then we asked about her alleged new salary of about $7 million -- the same as Savannah Guthrie -- but way less than Lauer.

Hoda addressed it ... with all the class you'd expect.

Paul Sorvino seems to prefer street justice to the whole judicial thing ... because he wants revenge against Harvey Weinstein in the worst way.

Sorvino was leaving Bristol Farms in WeHo Tuesday night when we asked about his daughter Mira's claims that she was blackballed by Harvey Weinstein after she rejected his sexual advances and unwanted physical contact.

Rabbi Shmuley isn't giving Lorde a pass for what he calls "the height of bigotry" ... and has one question for her -- What did Israel ever do to you?

We got Michael Jackson's old pal on Manhattan's Upper West Side, and asked him about the singer's recent decision to cancel her show in Israel ... while keeping 2 concert dates in Russia. He's still very fired up about it.

Shmuley thinks Lorde's joined a movement seeking the "economic annihilation" of Israel, and though he doesn't call her an anti-Semite ... he believes she needs to be more responsible as an influential celeb.

In case you don't think he's serious ... the Rabbi took out a full-page ad blasting Lorde for boycotting Israel while ignoring Putin's beyond-checkered past with human rights.

Hoda Kotb's slipping into Matt Lauer's old chair after being named the "Today" show co-anchor.

NBC made it official Tuesday morning ... and Hoda and her new partner, Savannah Guthrie, breathlessly announced it at the top of the show.

Back on Nov. 29 ... Hoda and Savannah dropped the shocker that the Peacock had fired Matt Lauer over sexual harassment claims made by more than a dozen women.

Hoda's workload just skyrocketed ... in addition to replacing Matt, she'll also keep her gig co-hosting with Kathie Lee Gifford for the 4th hour of 'Today.'

"All the Money in the World" hits very close to home for Balthazar Getty -- the story's about the 1973 abduction of his father, John Paul Getty III -- and for that reason ... he says he's not going to see it.

We got the actor at LAX Wednesday getting ready for vacay and asked for his thoughts on the movie, but he says the fam decided to stay mum. He does concede it's an interesting story.

As we reported ... Kevin Spacey was set to play the role of Getty's great-grandfather -- J. Paul Getty, who refused to pay the $17 mil ransom to get John back -- but got axed amid allegations of sexual assault and was replaced by Christopher Plummer.

William Graham -- one of the heirs to the Washington Post-Graham fortune and son to WP publishers Phil and Katharine Graham -- has died by suicide, like his father.

The Post published Will's obit Saturday, saying the 69-year-old lawyer died last Wednesday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to his older brother, Donald. His sister, Lally Weymouth, also posted about his death.

His father, Phil, also committed suicide in 1963 by shooting himself with a shotgun. Will's mother, Katharine, served as primary publisher of the Post for more than 2 decades thereafter.

She played a crucial role in the Post helping bring down President Nixon during the Watergate scandal. She also led the charge in continuing to publish the Pentagon Papers despite being challenged by the U.S. government in court.

Meryl Streep plays Katharine in Steven Spielberg's new movie "The Post." What's even more eerie here ... Will killed himself 6 days after the premiere in D.C., and 2 days before the film's limited release.

It's a bird ... it's a plane ... it's a weird glowing cloud in the sky -- compliments of SpaceX!!!

Elon Musk's aerospace company kicked off its final mission of 2017 Friday night by launching a rocket into the sky over Southern California from the Vandenberg Air Force Base.

Here at TMZ ... we were flooded with calls from California and Arizona residents asking if we were under attack or if aliens were visiting, and reporting that traffic was getting jammed by people pulling over to watch the show.

Now you all know ... it was just a rocket, man.

"And I think it's gonna be a long, long time ..."

Sylvester Stallone is ready to demand police investigate a woman who, he's been told, filed a report claiming he raped her 27 years ago ... TMZ has learned.

Stallone's attorney, Marty Singer, tells us he believes the woman recently filed a false police report with Santa Monica PD. Singer says this all started more than a month ago when a media outlet, not TMZ, informed him the woman was alleging Stallone raped her in 1990 in his Santa Monica office.

Stallone denies the allegation. He admits he had spent 3 days with her during a 1987 movie shoot in Israel. He was single, she was not a minor and he says there was never a rape. He also denies he saw her at all in 1990.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us the media outlet that contacted Singer refused to publish the woman's story due to a lack of corroborating evidence, and because, at that time, she had not filed a police report -- not in 1990, and not at any time since then.

We're told the woman finally did file a police report with Santa Monica PD in mid-November. However, the media outlet still did not publish. Our sources say it appears she filed the report in an effort to get the story out to the public, but failed.

However, Singer says a different reporter called him Tuesday and stated, definitively, that the woman -- who sources say was once married to a convicted killer-for-hire -- had now filed a police report. Singer says he contacted Santa Monica PD late Tuesday night to confirm the report, but the investigations division was closed.