One person drowned on Saturday in the Mexican town of Santa Rosalia following the devastating storm Hilary, which has been shaking up the southwestern United States and Mexico since Friday.
Hilary, a Category 4 major hurricane, rapidly grew to 145 mph winds, making it the deadliest US wildfire in more than a century. As of 8 a.m. Pacific time, Hilary was located about 220 miles south-southeast of San Diego, the National Hurricane Center reported.
Mexico’s navy evacuated 850 people from islands off the Baja coast and deployed nearly 3,000 troops for emergency operations. In La Paz, Baja California Sur state’s capital, police patrolled closed beaches to keep swimmers out of the whipped-up surf.
The storm has weakened since Saturday, but it has been categorized as a tropical storm, which still carries so much rain that forecasters said "catastrophic and life-threatening" flooding is likely across a broad region of the southwestern US.
In Tijuana, 1.9 million people were warned not to ignore the danger. The fire department head Rafael Carrillo urged all Tijuana residents to pay attention to any ground cracking and to evacuate as soon as possible if they noticed ground cracking.
The US National Hurricane Center posted tropical storm and potential flood warnings for Southern California from the Pacific coast to interior mountains and deserts as far north as eastern Oregon and Idaho. The hurricane’s expected path includes the Mexican cities of Ensenada and Tijuana, and the risk of flash floods, mudslides, isolated tornadoes, high winds, and power outages remains high.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has proclaimed a state of emergency and urged people to do their preparations before sundown Saturday. As of Sunday, the storm is still expected to be the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years.
The U.S. National Park Service has closed Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve to keep visitors from becoming stranded amid flooding. Major League Baseball has also rescheduled three Sunday games in Southern California, moving them to Saturday as part of split doubleheaders, and Space X has delayed the launch of a satellite-carrying rocket from California’s central coast until Monday.
The White House has mentioned President Joe Biden’s briefing on the latest preparedness plans ahead of the hurricane’s turn to the US: “ I urge everyone, everyone in the path of this storm, to take precautions and listen to the guidance of state and local officials.” The Federal Emergency Management Agency has also revealed that it has officials inside California’s emergency preparedness office and teams on standby with food, water and other help as needed.
So far, the storm has brought heavy rain and flooding to Mexico and the southwestern US, and further predictions about its path remain uncertain. It is yet to be seen how much destruction this hurricane will leave behind until it passes, but the danger of flooding and other disasters is definitely a reality.
This really doesn't do it justice. The cloud stretched around at least half the horizon, a tight band with nothing else around it the whole way. Very strange. https://t.co/4uHvXUaoAU
— Martyr Made (@martyrmade) August 19, 2023