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Key developments
If you’re just joining us, here’s a brief summary of what’s been happening and how Tropical Storm Hilary is expected to develop over the coming 24 hours:
The storm made landfall on Sunday in Mexico, where it caused flash flooding in the Baja Peninsula that killed one person when their car was washed away. The cities of Ensenada and Tijuana closed all beaches and opened shelters at sports complexes and government offices. In Tijuana, schools are to be closed on Monday and non-essential activities cancelled.
The storm is expected to bring “life-threatening and locally catastrophic flash flooding” as it advances northwards over southern California, according to the US National Weather Service. More than 20 flash flooding warnings were in effect across California on Sunday evening including in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Death Valley, Ventura and Santa Clarita.
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has declared a state of emergency in 12 counties while in Nevada, to the north, Governor Joe Lombardo has also declared a state of emergency and activated 100 National Guard troops to assist with problems from predicted flooding in western Clark and Nye counties and southern Esmeralda County. Arizona has also been experiencing stormy weather.
Schools are to be closed on Monday in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest school system, while in San Diego the first day of classes have been postponed from Monday to Tuesday.
Hilary was downgraded from a Category 4 hurricane early on Sunday morning but officials warned that people should be more concerned about flooding and should not attempt to drive through flood waters.
It is extremely rare for a tropical strength storm to hit southern California and it will be the first time that San Diego County, just north of the Mexican border, has ever been hit by one. Storm Nora hit a remote part of Imperial County to the east in 1997, and in 1939, before storms were named, another came ashore in Long Beach to the north, in Los Angeles County.
Just as California was preparing for Hilary’s arrival on Sunday afternoon, it was also struck by a 5.1 magnitude earthquake in the Ventura County city of Ojai, about 80 miles northwest of Los Angeles. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
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Emergency temporary shelters are remaining open in Los Angeles, authorities have said, to help homeless people affected by the extreme weather.
In total the city is providing 400 “units” of accommodation, the City of Los Angeles said, adding that it had opened five shelters near high-risk areas near the city’s waterways and potential flood zones on Saturday and another three were opening on Sunday as part of its plan to expand coverage across Los Angeles.
Transportation to shelters is being offered and Angelenos are allowed to bring their pets.
The City of Los Angeles announced today that emergency temporary shelters remain open across the City to provide shelter for unhoused Angelenos impacted by Tropical Storm Hilary’s extreme weather conditions. Visit this link for more information: https://t.co/eVNR08IUh2 pic.twitter.com/tdH7cXPgaO
— UnifiedLA (@UnifiedLA) August 21, 2023Key developments
If you’re just joining us, here’s a brief summary of what’s been happening and how Tropical Storm Hilary is expected to develop over the coming 24 hours:
The storm made landfall on Sunday in Mexico, where it caused flash flooding in the Baja Peninsula that killed one person when their car was washed away. The cities of Ensenada and Tijuana closed all beaches and opened shelters at sports complexes and government offices. In Tijuana, schools are to be closed on Monday and non-essential activities cancelled.
The storm is expected to bring “life-threatening and locally catastrophic flash flooding” as it advances northwards over southern California, according to the US National Weather Service. More than 20 flash flooding warnings were in effect across California on Sunday evening including in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Death Valley, Ventura and Santa Clarita.
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has declared a state of emergency in 12 counties while in Nevada, to the north, Governor Joe Lombardo has also declared a state of emergency and activated 100 National Guard troops to assist with problems from predicted flooding in western Clark and Nye counties and southern Esmeralda County. Arizona has also been experiencing stormy weather.
Schools are to be closed on Monday in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest school system, while in San Diego the first day of classes have been postponed from Monday to Tuesday.
Hilary was downgraded from a Category 4 hurricane early on Sunday morning but officials warned that people should be more concerned about flooding and should not attempt to drive through flood waters.
It is extremely rare for a tropical strength storm to hit southern California and it will be the first time that San Diego County, just north of the Mexican border, has ever been hit by one. Storm Nora hit a remote part of Imperial County to the east in 1997, and in 1939, before storms were named, another came ashore in Long Beach to the north, in Los Angeles County.
Just as California was preparing for Hilary’s arrival on Sunday afternoon, it was also struck by a 5.1 magnitude earthquake in the Ventura County city of Ojai, about 80 miles northwest of Los Angeles. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
In Nevada, to the north of California, Governor Joe Lombardo has also declared a state of emergency and activated 100 National Guard troops to assist with problems from predicted flooding in western Clark and Nye counties and southern Esmeralda County.
Hilary could wallop other western states with once-in-a-century rains, with a good chance of it becoming the wettest known tropical cyclone to douse Nevada, Oregon and Idaho. It’s expected to remain a tropical storm into central Nevada early Monday before dissipating.
In Arizona, wind gusts have neared 60 mph (97 kph) in Yuma County and officials have given out thousands of sandbags.
California’s state of emergency has been expanded to include Mono County, governor Gavin Newsom has said.
A statement from his office said the state was also organising the distribution of 300,000 sandbags and that the California National Guard had strategically prepositioned more than 350 soldiers and two dozen high water vehicles.
More than 730 firefighters and support staff have been deployed and equipment includes 43 fire engines and five helicopters.
The Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest school system, is closing all campuses on Monday.
“There is no way we can compromise the safety of a single child or an employee, and our inability to survey buildings, our inability to determine access to schools makes it nearly impossible for us to open schools,” superintendent Alberto Carvalho said at a media briefing.
San Diego schools have postponed the first day of classes from Monday to Tuesday.
The wires have been sending through more pictures from around the areas affected by the storm:
Food delivery service DoorDash is suspending delivery services in eight areas of southern California including Los Angeles, Palm Springs, San Diego County and Imperial Valley, local broadcaster KTLA is reporting.
“To keep our community safe, DoorDash is activating its Severe Weather Protocol and temporarily suspending our operations in parts of Southern California,” DoorDash spokesperson Jenn Rosenberg said in a news release.
The company said it expected operations to resume at about 11am on Monday depending on weather conditions.
The National Weather Service has extended the flash flood warning for Los Angeles County until 3am on Monday and for South Central Inyo County and Western San Bernardino County until 11pm on Sunday.
In Los Angeles a “dangerous and life threatening flash flooding situation” is developing from Point Mugu and Camarillo eastward through the Thousand Oaks and Woodland Hills area and across the mountains of Los Angeles County, it said.
In South Central Inyo and San Bernardino “flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly”.
Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said that while Hilary has weakened from a Category 4 hurricane, it’s the water, not the wind, that people should watch out for most.
“You do not want to be out driving around, trying to cross flooded roads on vehicle or on foot,” Brennan said during a briefing from Miami, according to AP.
“Rainfall flooding has been the biggest killer in tropical storms and hurricanes in the United States in the past 10 years, and you don’t want to become a statistic.”
The National Weather Service has also warned people against driving through flood waters:
Potentially historic amount of rainfall is expected to cause life-threatening to locally catastrophic flash, urban, and arroyo flooding including landslides, mudslides, and debris flows. Among other preparations, remember that driving through flooded roadways is NOT be an option. pic.twitter.com/FN88Rl24LX
— National Weather Service (@NWS) August 20, 2023Biden deploys federal resources to California
The White House has released a statement from president Joe Biden on the federal response to Tropical Storm Hilary.
The president has said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had deployed personnel and supplies to the state, while the US Coast Guard has aircraft on standby to help in search and rescue efforts.
Federal resources have also been sent to Nevada where a state of emergency is in place.
The White House statement reads:
This afternoon I spoke to California Governor Gavin Newsom about the emergency preparedness measures in place, and the initial response to Tropical Storm Hilary … My Administration stands ready to provide additional assistance as requested. I urge people to take this storm seriously, and listen to state and local officials.”
California governor declares state of emergency
The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has declared a state of emergency in 11 counties including Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange and Ventura, with 7,500 emergency responders on duty.
All state beaches in San Diego and Orange counties have been closed and as well as Joshua Tree national park and Mojave National Preserve. There are flash flood warnings in effect throughout the region.
Newsom, on a tour of Southern California, said Palm Springs was dry when he left on Sunday but an hour later it had received “the most significant rainfall over a 60-minute period any time in the history of Palm Springs.” The streets were soon flooded.
“That’s how quickly this system is moving. Take nothing for granted,” Newsom told a briefing in Los Angeles, after he said he updated US president Joe Biden, who ordered federal agencies to move personnel and supplies into the region.
The storm has passed through Mexico with “not too much damage” and only rain remains, president Manuel López Obrador has tweeted.
“We are continuing to care for the victims and to restore communications and electricity,” he said.
Les agrego el último reporte sobre el huracán que afectó a la península de Baja California. Afortunadamente no fueron muchos los daños y ya solo queda lluvia. De todas formas seguimos atendiendo a damnificados y restableciendo la comunicación y la energía eléctrica. pic.twitter.com/sxAphvDFtl
— Andrés Manuel (@lopezobrador_) August 20, 2023Surfers have been taking advantage of the big waves caused by the approaching storm:
I’m not sure if this counts:
Here’s the moment an earthquake – no damage or casualties so far reported – interrupted live coverage of the chaos already being caused in California by Hilary on Sunday afternoon:
Hilary will be the first recorded tropical strength storm ever to hit San Diego County, just north of the Mexican border; such a storm is also extremely rare for southern California.
Nora hit a remote part of Imperial County to the east in 1997, and in 1939, before storms were named, another came ashore in Long Beach to the north, in Los Angeles County.
It’s all part of a pattern of unusual weather to hit North America this year, with parts of the US including California sweltering under scorching heat and Canada suffering from extreme wildfires. Scientists have said that climate change has made weather patterns more extreme.
In Palm Springs, a desert getaway in Riverside County about 100 miles (160 km) east of Los Angeles and which has been one of the hottest parts of California this summer, the streets have flooded.
The city of 45,000 people typically gets around 4.6 inches of rain in an entire year and could receive 6-10 inches from this one storm.
Flood waters have also raced through the concrete banks of the Los Angeles River, which normally contains just a trickle.
It’s just after 5.3opm in Los Angeles and the eye of the storm is just north of the Mexican border, according to US National Weather Service meteorologist Lisa Phillips, who held a briefing at 4.30pm.
As of 2 pm PDT (2100 GMT), Hilary was about 115 miles (185 km) south-southeast of San Diego, California, the forecaster said. It was moving north-northwest at 23 mph (37 kph).
In Mexico, nearly 1,900 people have been evacuated to shelters in the Baja California peninsula, according to the country’s army.
Schools and other nonessential activities have been canceled through Monday, and authorities in the city of Tijuana, bordering San Diego, have urged people in high-risk zones to move to temporary shelters.
Around the coastal town of Mulege, on the eastern side of the Baja California peninsula, one person died after his family was swept away while crossing a stream on Saturday. Phone lines and electricity were cut in several of the surrounding villages after lamp-posts fell, the Mexican army added.
Mexico’s Navy has also evacuated about 850 people from five islands in the path of Hilary, which was previously designated a Category 4 hurricane before it weakened.
Storm Hilary has been weakening over the last 48 hours. But it is still set to be the wettest storm ever to hit the US Southwest, according to Zack Taylor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS), Reuters reports.
“This is a dangerous storm,” said Taylor, who works for NWS’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. “It’s not just the rain totals but the intensity.”
Hilary is set to dump vast amounts of water on many parts of the US Southwest that are more accustomed to dry conditions.
Areas such as Palm Springs, California, which typically gets about 4.6 inches of rain in an entire year, could receive 6-10 inches from this one storm. California’s Death Valley area, which receives only about 2.2 inches of rain a year, could receive 3-4 inches from this event.
Storm surges – when the ocean is pushed inland – could produce coastal flooding in parts of Baja California and the storm was carrying heavy rain that could cause catastrophic flooding in some areas, the NHC added.
Rainfall of 3 to 6 inches (7.6 to 15 cm), with isolated amounts of 10 inches, is expected across the northern Baja California peninsula as well as portions of Southern California and Southern Nevada, the Miami-based agency said.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Tropical Storm Hilary with me, Helen Livingstone.
The storm made landfall in Mexico’s Baja California on Sunday, causing torrential rains and flooding and killing one person; it’s now on its way to southern California, packing winds of 80mph.
At least 9 million people are under flash-flood warnings as heavy rain falls across the southern part of California. Desert areas are especially susceptible along with hillsides with wildfire burn scars, forecasters have warned.
The weather service issued a tornado warning on Sunday afternoon for central San Diego county.
Southern California was also hit by an earthquake on Sunday afternoon with a preliminary magnitude of 5.1 hit near Ojai, about 80 miles (130 km) north-west of downtown Los Angeles, according to the US Geological Survey. It was felt widely and was followed by smaller aftershocks. There were no immediate reports of major damage or injury, according to a dispatcher with the Ventura county sheriff’s office.
In Nevada, the governor has declared a state of emergency as videos posted to social media show rivers of water flowing down residential streets and cars struggling to navigate the deluge.
With flash floods expected to strike as far north as Idaho, we’ll be bringing you all the latest developments as they happen.
