updateTropical Storm Hilary has reached the southern US state of California. The storm is currently located about 10 miles (about 16 kilometers, ed.) Southeast of Los Angeles and reaches wind speeds of up to 72 kilometers per hour. That reports CNN. The desert city of Palm Springs received half a year’s rainfall in one day. California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency for much of southern California. The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued flash flood warnings.
Weather warnings are in effect for most of southern California, including the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, which lie in the storm’s path. Hilary is moving to the northwest at about 45 kilometers per hour and the strong gusts of wind reach about 370 kilometers from the eye of the storm.
Intense rainfall of up to 25 centimeters (10 inches, ed.) is possible in southern California and Nevada through Monday morning local time. In parts of Oregon and Idaho, precipitation of up to 12 centimeters (5 inches, ed.) is possible until Tuesday morning. The intense rain can lead to disastrous and life-threatening flooding.
The region’s mountain and desert regions can receive about 12 to 25 centimeters (5 to 10 inches) of rain — that’s as much as the desert regions normally see in a year, according to meteorologists. That reports Reuters.
Rainfall records have been broken in several places in the south of the state. For example, the eastern desert city of Palm Springs had to deal with half a year’s rainfall in one day. The authorities have declared a local state of emergency. At least three flood rescues have been carried out in the city. That reports police lieutenant Gustavo Araiza to ‘CNN’.
Downtown Los Angeles, on the other hand, recorded a record 1.53 inches of precipitation, far exceeding the old record of 0.03 inches, which dates back to 1906.
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Evacuation orders
San Bernardino County authorities have now issued evacuation orders. The NWS has warned people in San Bernardino County and Los Angeles County through a message on their cell phones that it is “a dangerous and life-threatening situation.”
Fire chiefs have asked the public to follow evacuation orders. “If we ask you to evacuate, we don’t take it lightly,” the battalion commander of the San Bernardino Fire Department said in an interview with the US news site. “The last thing we want is for you to try to leave at the last minute and be overtaken by the floods,” said CNN.
Meanwhile, NSW has also warned of life-threatening flooding in Ventura County, where about 5 inches of rain fell in two hours. Multiple cars became stuck in the municipality of Spanish Hills, where firefighters had to perform multiple flood rescues.
Hilary is the first tropical storm to hit California since the passage of Tropical Storm Nora in 1997.
Earthquake in Southern California
As Hilary approached southern California, the region just south of the Los Padres National Forest was also rocked by a magnitude 5.1 earthquake around 2:45 p.m. local time on Sunday. In the minutes that followed, four aftershocks were recorded, with magnitudes ranging from 3.1 to 3.6.
Hilary, previously a hurricane, made landfall on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula about 11 a.m. local time on Sunday.
Read also: US braces for ‘potentially catastrophic’ Hurricane Hilary, one dead from heavy rain in Mexico
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