MARINA DEL REY, Calif − Tropical Storm Hilary drenched Southern California from the coast to inland mountains and deserts Sunday evening, prompting rescues from swollen rivers and forcing some of the nation’s largest school districts to cancel Monday classes
Hilary brought intensifying rain to the region, with some mountain and desert areas seeing more than half an average year’s worth of rain come down in just one day, including the desert resort city of Palm Springs, which saw nearly 3 inches of rain by Sunday evening. Hilary was toppling trees and causing mudslides in the San Diego area.
Hilary was the first tropical storm to cross into California from Mexico since Nora in 1997, the weather service office in San Diego said Sunday night. If Hilary had come in off the ocean in a landfall in California, it would have been the first tropical storm to do so since 1939.
One person drowned Saturday in the Mexican town of Santa Rosalia when a vehicle was swept away in an overflowing stream, The Associated Press reported. Rescue workers saved four other people, said Edith Aguilar Villavicencio, the mayor of Mulege township.
Mud and boulders spilled onto highways, water overwhelmed drainage systems and tree branches fell in neighborhoods from San Diego to Los Angeles. Dozens of cars were trapped in floodwaters in Palm Springs and surrounding desert communities across the Coachella Valley. Crews pumped floodwaters out of the emergency room at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage.President Joe Biden, who is traveling to Hawaii on Monday to survey damage from devastating wildfires in Maui, urged "everyone in the path of this storm to take precautions and listen to the guidance of state and local officials."
Tropical Storm Hilary tracker:Follow the storm’s path as it heads toward Southern California
Developments:
◾ Thousands of Southern California residents were without power on Sunday as storm conditions took down power lines. Over 7,000 Imperial Irrigation District customers in the eastern Coachella Valley and Imperial County service area were without power while over 31,000 Southern California Edison customers lost power areas in or near Los Angeles county.◾ The National Weather Service extended its flash flood warning for the Los Angeles area until 3:00 a.m. local time. The agency warned some parts of the area would experience life-threatening flooding as the fire department conducted water rescues for cars stuck in flooded roads.
◾ The Los Angeles school district, the second largest in the nation, said all its schools will be closed Monday. The San Diego school district, which planned to begin its fall term Monday, said it will delay the start of classes to Tuesday.
◾ The city of Palm Springs declared an emergency, "due to unprecedented rainfall in flooding of local roadways and at least one swift water rescue." The declaration, according to spokesperson Amy Blaisdell, opens up access to extra resources, such as funds for repairs from storm damage and more flexibility with emergency purchases.
◾ In Southern California, at least two debris flows have been reported over roadways in San Bernardino, and rocks have been reported on roads in three locations in Kern, the National Weather Service said. Two semi-trucks were reported flipped along Interstate 8 in Imperial, the weather service added.
◾ Hilary’s rainfall is an extreme, record-breaking event,said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “There’s a very clear link between increases in extreme precipitation and global warming,” Swain said. In a warmer world, “the atmosphere’s capacity to hold water vapor increases exponentially.”
◾ California Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency, and authorities issued an evacuation advisory for Santa Catalina Island, 23 miles off the coast.
◾ As the storm rolls north, portions of Oregon and Idaho could see as much as 3 to 5 inches of rain, producing some "significant" flash flooding, the National Weather Service said.
'Walls were moving quite a bit'
Louis Brown, a security guard at Ralph’s grocery store in Marina del Rey, California, surveyed the customers at about 8 p.m. Sunday night. “Last night it was chaos, havoc,’’ Brown told USA TODAY. “It was packed until 1 o’clock, and I could see the fear in their eyes and their soul.’’
He was referring to the customers stocking up on food before the storm arrived. And less than 24 hours later? “Nothing,’’ he said, looking around the store. “No chaos.’’
With the initial hurricane having weakened to a tropical storm, Brown presumed those panicked shoppers survived Hilary as did he -- without incident.
Rain fell for most of the day, but 17-year-old Michael Gatto said he still rode his skateboard to work at Local Pizza a block from Venice Beach.
“I did it on purpose so I could tell people that,’’ he said.
He said business was slow but picked up toward the end of the day. One of his last customers of the night was Andrea Iucci, who said he was in town from Amsterdam and visiting with his wife and two children. Originally, Iucci said, they planned to vacation in Maui. But the deadly fires in Hawaii prompted them to head to Los Angeles.
On Sunday, their third day in Los Angeles, they experienced not only the storm but also the earthquake. He said they were on the top floor of a nearby hotel when the earthquake with a 5.1 magnitude hit.
“The walls were moving quite a bit,’’ he said. “But it’s OK. As long as everyone’s safe."
Senior community impacted by flooding in Coachella Valley
About 60 homes at the Canyon Mobile Home Community in Cathedral City have been impacted by flooding, according to Cathedral City Councilmember Nancy Ross, who also lives in the 55 and older community of 350 homes.
“On the (most impacted streets), there was in several locations at least three feet of rushing water that was like a river and had a current of its own, it’s frightening,” Ross said. “And that rushing water by nature just wanted to follow a straight path up into people’s driveways and into their garages, and so many people flooded.”
Ross says damage to the roughly 60 impacted homes includes water flooded into garages or homes, and water under the mobile homes. Ross and her husband spent the afternoon checking on neighbors and attempting to keep nearby culverts clear of debris.
The Cathedral City Fire Department also came to the park Sunday afternoon to help evacuate several people out of their homes who couldn’t get past the rushing water in the road.
“It’s a senior citizen mobile home park, many of our people are in their 80s. They just don’t deserve to be in such a vulnerable situation, that’s for sure,” said Ross.
Mudslides and debris flow through mountain and desert areas
By Sunday evening, Hilary had moved over San Diego and was headed north into inland desert areas.
Residents of the Coachella Valley had previously expressed anxiety and fear over the storm as many spent the past few days preparing by filling up sandbags as a precaution. And as Hilary closed in on the area Sunday night, the heavy rain turned roadways into rivers and filled up the local wash.
Cities within the desert region are at risk of dangerous flooding due to their location and environment. Surrounded by several mountain ranges, waterways in the area can be overwhelmed by the heavy rain and can cause waters to quickly rise.
“This entire valley is basically a giant river bottom,” Palm Springs resident Carley Pinkney told the New York Times.
In an area where residents are accustomed to intense heat and the blaring sun during this time of year, Hilary is bringing record rain. Palm Springs set a daily record for rainfall on Sunday, recording more than two inches as of 5 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
“Usually, when the weatherman says rain, they’re wrong because we get rain like one and a half days a year,” resident Michael Matera told the Times.
“When it rains, it just sits there, like it’s in a bowl," he added.
In the San Bernardino Mountains, AccuWeather storm chaser Aaron Rigsby said a large mudslide moved boulders and trees onto the roadway in Forest Falls. Images and videos of the mud slide showed debris flowing in muddy waters, completely covering roads.
San Bernardino County declared a local emergency Sunday afternoon and the sheriff's department issued evacuation orders for several communities, including Forest Falls.
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