Mexico lashed with 70 mph winds and heavy rains as US braces for ‘dangerous’ floods
Tropical Storm Hilary made landfall along Mexico’s Baja California coast on Sunday, lashing the area with 70mph winds as it barrelled towards the US sparking fears of deadly flash flooding.
The Mexican border city of Tijuana, Southern California and areas as far north as Idaho could be among the regions facing the brunt of the storm, which has left one person dead.
Forecasters have warned of life-threatening and “catastrophic” flooding in the US South West and expect Hilary to become the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years, bringing flash floods and mudslides.
One person died in Mexico amid reports of flash flooding in the peninsula, where some roads were swept away and images on social media showed raging torrents gushing down city streets that have been turned into rivers.
In the US, the storm has already wreaked havoc on flights and sporting events before its arrival, while officials warned residents to remain indoors and keep emergency supplies handy.
Residents have piled sandbags around their homes and businesses to protect their properties, with Zack Taylor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS), warning Hilary is set to be the wettest storm ever to hit the Southwest.
“This is a dangerous storm,” said Mr Taylor, who works for NWS’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. “It’s not just the rain totals but the intensity.”
Areas such as Palm Springs, California, which typically gets around 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 per year, could receive 3-4 inches from this event.
Eugenie Adler, a resident of Long Beach, California, told Reuters: “Flooding where people lose some property is one thing, but flooding where people die is another. And I’m afraid people might die.”
Up to 10 inches of rain expected to be dumped across the northern Baja California peninsula as well as portions of Southern California and Southern Nevada, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said that while Hilary had weakened from a Category 4 hurricane, it’s the water, not the wind, that people should watch out for most.
“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,” Brennan said in an online briefing from Miami.
The Mexican cities of Ensenada and Tijuana, directly in the storm’s path, closed all beaches and opened a half-dozen shelters at sports complexes and government offices.
One person drowned Saturday in the Mexican town of Santa Rosalia when a vehicle was swept away in an overflowing stream. Rescue workers saved four other people, said Edith Aguilar Villavicencio, the mayor of Mulege township.
Hilary is just the latest major climate disaster to wreak havoc across the US, Canada and Mexico.
Hawaii’s island of Maui is still reeling from last week’s blaze that killed over 100 people and ravaged the historic town of Lahaina, making it the deadliest US wildfire in more than a century.
Firefighters in Canada are battling blazes during the nation’s worst fire season on record.
