- Hurricane Hilary Weakens But Still Poses Life-Threatening Inundation
- Impacts of Hilary: Casualty and Precautions
- Rare Tropical Cyclone Threatens Southern California
US meteorologists warn that even though Hurricane Hilary has weakened as it approaches the Pacific coast of Mexico and California. It could still cause “life-threatening” inundation.
With winds of 85 miles per hour (140 kilometers per hour), it has been downgraded to a Category 1 cyclone.
Overnight, heavy rain fell on portions of the peninsula of Baja California in Mexico and the southwestern United States.
An official reported that a man perished after being swept away while crossing a stream in Baja California.
The father was traveling with his three children and a woman in a car. The others all survived, according to local media.
It is anticipated that Hilary will become a tropical storm before it reaches southern California. Nevertheless, it would be the first tropical cyclone to strike the state in over 80 years.
Sunday at 06:00 GMT, the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) reported that Hurricane Hilary was approximately 90 miles (145 kilometers) south of Baja California’s westernmost point, Punta Eugenia.
The NHC stated that its center will “approach the west-central coast of the Baja California peninsula” on Sunday morning before moving across southern California on Sunday afternoon.
“Hilary appears to be weakening quickly,” John Cangialosi, a senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Centre, told the Associated Press on Saturday.
Over the past several hours, the cloud peaks in the eyewall, and the rainbands have warmed, he added.
Hilary was previously a Category 4 hurricane with winds of up to 130 mph.
A Sunday am NHC report predicted 10in (25cm) rainfall in southern California and Nevada. “Dangerous to catastrophic flooding is expected.”
The National Weather Service (NWS) previously issued a warning for “high potential” flash inundation in San Diego. Flood watches were issued for nearly 26 million residents in the southwestern United States.
On Friday, US President Joe Biden said FEMA has “pre-positioned personnel and supplies in the region.”
“I urge everyone in the storm’s path to take precautions and follow the advice of state and local authorities,” he said.
The Mexican government has set 18,000 soldiers on standby to help rescuers during a tropical storm alert.
Major League Baseball rescheduled three games in southern California as the storm approached, while SpaceX postponed the launch of a rocket from its base on the central California coast until at least Monday.
In California, the National Park Service also closed Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve to prevent tourists from becoming stranded in the event of inundation.
Local authorities in cities throughout the region, including Arizona, have provided sandbags to residents seeking to protect their properties from potential inundation.
In Mexico, hurricanes and tropical storms are relatively prevalent. Long Beach was the location of the last tropical cyclone to make landfall in southern California, in 1939.
Experts say human-caused climate change causes abnormal weather phenomena in the US and elsewhere.
In the wake of July 2023, the hottest month on record, according to NASA, the deadliest wildfire in the modern annals of the United States broke out in Hawaii on August 8, killing at least 111 people.
The devastation was exacerbated by the passage of hurricane winds through the area.
