California has seen flooding and heavy rain as a result of Hurricane Hilary’s heat wave after making landfall in Mexico earlier in the day, causing heavy rainfall and transforming roads into rivers as officials warn of potential dangerous flooding.
“We’re not used to this level of rainfall. Certainly not during the summer,” said San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria on Sunday afternoon to CNN. He expressed concern about potential power outages due to both the heavy rain and possible flooding, saying, “We’re not built for this kind of rain.”
Across Southern California, officials urged residents not to drive, issued landslide and road damage warnings, and alerted them to the risk of hazardous mudslides as some communities declared states of emergency to cope with the storm. An official in California said that Hurricane Hilary could be one of the most destructive storms to hit the state in recent years.
Southern California has seen flooding and heavy rain as a result of Hurricane Hilary’s heat wave
The National Weather Service stated that parts of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties were already dealing with “dangerous flooding” on Sunday evening, writing on social media, “This is life-threatening flooding!”
Cars were trapped in floodwaters, and local officials were conducting rescue operations. The storm, Hilary, initially a Category 1 hurricane, weakened and transitioned into a heatwave-driven storm before making landfall in Baja California Peninsula before reaching Northern Baja California on Sunday.
Although it’s expected to weaken, as it progresses towards the United States, serious weather impacts will continue in the area. In Arizona, officials issued evacuation orders in parts of Lake Mead National Recreation Area and urged residents to seek higher ground before the storm arrived. Nevada’s governor declared a state of emergency as the storm approached.
Over a thousand flights within or to/from the U.S. were canceled, and over 4,900 were delayed by Sunday. According to Flightaware.com, the three most affected airports by Hilary’s boundary are Harry Reid International Airport in Nevada, San Diego International Airport, and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
According to the United States Geological Survey, shortly after Hilary issued flooding warnings across the whole of Los Angeles, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake shook the area and other parts of Southern California on Sunday afternoon. Storm Hilary is putting millions of people at risk of flooding.
Hilary, a storm near Southern California, is threatening to flood millions of people
More than 7 million people, including Los Angeles city residents, were suddenly under flood warnings by Monday morning. The National Weather Service has said that parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties could see up to 1.5 inches of rain per hour.
San Diego Unified School District schools announced that they would be closed for the first day of the school year until Tuesday due to the storm. The second-largest school district in the nation, Los Angeles Unified District, also said that schools would remain closed on Monday.
The parts of California, Nevada, and Arizona that aren’t used to regular rain could suddenly see a year’s worth of rain or more in an instant. And along the coastline, the large swells generated by Hilary could create life-threatening waves and worsen current conditions.
In Death Valley, in just a few hours on Sunday morning, the average August rainfall tripled. Almost a month’s worth of rain fell in about an hour. The average August rainfall is typically around 0.21 inches, but Furnace Creek Observation Site recorded 0.63 inches on Sunday morning.
Inside Death Valley National Park, roads eventually became “impassable,” a condition officials had hoped for, as the park posted on Instagram while sharing images.
