The National Hurricane Center predicted catastrophic and life-threatening inundation throughout the region including portions of the Southwestern United States, after Tropical Storm Hilary landfall on the Baja California Peninsula in northern Mexico on Sunday.
General view of the Medano beach in Los Cabos, Baja California State, Mexico, during the passage of Hurricane Hilary, on August 19, 2023. (Photo source: Alfredo Estrella/AFP via Getty Images)
Flash Floods are Expected Caused by Tropical Storm Hilary
“Flash and urban flooding, locally catastrophic, is expected,” the storm center stated in its most recent warning. The hurricane was the latest to threaten North America, which has been plagued by catastrophic weather in recent weeks. This summer has been scorching in much of the United States, and a heat dome is forecast to roast the country’s central and southern regions in the coming days. Wildfires raged through Maui earlier this month, killing at least 114 people in what has become the deadliest wildfire in modern U.S. history. Dangerous wildfires are also raging in Washington State and western Canada.
Stormy weather with some forecasts calling for up to 10 inches of rain in northern Baja California, tropical storm Hilary, which was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm early Sunday morning, is predicted to drop 3 to 6 inches of rain in several locations.
On Sunday afternoon, the storm is expected to make landfall in Southern California, where it will become the first tropical storm to hit the area in 84 years. On the weekends, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency while weather experts issued dire warnings about tornadoes, strong waves, mudslides, and flash flooding caused by tropical storm Hilary. Local forecasts indicate that rain might fall at a rate of 3 inches per hour during the storm’s peak, particularly in the state’s hilly regions. The National Hurricane Center predicts that through Monday morning, there may be flash floods and severe rain.
Clark County, Nevada, has also declared a state of emergency. Meteorologists predict that tropical storm Hilary will dump more than a year’s worth of rain in some of the Southwest’s driest areas, increasing the risk of severe flooding and landslides. As the hurricane barreled along the coast, nearly 1,000 flights within, into, or out of the United States were canceled.
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Other States Have Already Declared State of Emergency due to Tropical Storm Hilary
Flooding has already occurred in sections of Baja California as a result of tropical storm Hilary. According to The Associated Press, one person drowned Saturday in the village of Santa Rosalia after a stream overflowed. Tropical storm Hilary formed in the eastern Pacific Ocean as a hurricane and reached Category 4 strength before being reduced to a tropical storm before making an impact.
On Sunday afternoon, the storm is expected to make landfall in Southern California, where it will become the first tropical storm to hit the area in 84 years. On the weekends, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency while weather experts issued dire warnings about tornadoes, strong waves, mudslides, and flash flooding caused by tropical storm Hilary. Local forecasts indicate that rain might fall at a rate of 3 inches per hour during the storm’s peak, particularly in the state’s hilly regions. The National Hurricane Center predicts that through Monday morning, there may be flash floods and severe rain.
Clark County, Nevada, has also declared a state of emergency. Meteorologists predict that tropical storm Hilary will dump more than a year’s worth of rain in some of the Southwest’s driest areas, increasing the risk of severe flooding and landslides. As the hurricane barreled along the coast, nearly 1,000 flights within, into, or out of the United States were canceled.
Flooding has already occurred in sections of Baja California as a result of tropical storm Hilary. According to The Associated Press, one person drowned Saturday in the village of Santa Rosalia after a stream overflowed. Tropical storm Hilary formed in the eastern Pacific Ocean as a hurricane and reached Category 4 strength before being reduced to a tropical storm before making an impact.
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