Hurricane Hilary Hits Mexico And California, Causing Extensive Damage

Hurricane Hilary dumped massive rains on parts of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula and the southwestern United States, prompting officials to warn that the powerful storm was likely to cause catastrophic and life-threatening flooding.

According to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC), the storm had weakened from a powerful Category 4 to a Category 2 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale on Saturday, but it was still deemed capable of extensive damage, and hurricane conditions were expected to persist along the Baja California coast until Sunday morning.

The National Hurricane Center said that on Saturday afternoon, Hilary had maximum sustained winds of 110 miles per hour (175 kilometers per hour), with greater gusts.

Heavy rains were falling in parts of Baja California and the southwestern United States, with catastrophic and life-threatening flooding likely.

“The center of Hurricane Hilary will move close to the west-central coast of the Baja California Peninsula tonight and Sunday morning, then across southern California Sunday afternoon and Sunday night”, the hurricane center predicted.

Before hitting southern California and southern Nevada, the storm is predicted to diminish to a tropical storm, with severe rains and flooding still probable.

As enormous waves began slamming ashore, residents and workers in the Mexican tourist resort of Cabo San Lucas put up protective boards and laid thousands of sandbags.

Military officers were seen guarding the city’s beach, which is popular with both Mexican and foreign tourists.

Saturday, streets in Todos Santos, on the peninsula’s west coast, were mostly vacant, while the beach in nearby Cerritos was closed due to heavy waves.

The Mexican government has sent around 19,000 soldiers to the storm-ravaged regions, while the federal electric utility has despatched 800 technicians and hundreds of trucks to deal with potential outages.

“Rainfall amounts of three to six inches, with isolated amounts of 10 inches, are expected across portions of southern California and southern Nevada”, the National Weather Service warned.

“Dangerous to catastrophic flooding is to be expected”, the National Weather Service added.

The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services director, Nancy Ward, warned Hilary might be one of the worst storms to slam the state in more than a decade.

“Make no mistake”, she added emphatically.

“This is a very, very dangerous and significant storm”, she continued.

The US Federal Emergency Management Agency has deployed personnel to locations threatened by Hilary ahead of the storm, and President Joe Biden has been receiving daily reports as he prepares to travel to Hawaii to assess the damage from a deadly wildfire.

“He has encouraged everyone to be aware of what this potentially dangerous storm may bring and to listen to their local officials on the steps they can take to ensure that they are safe”, FEMA chief Deanne Criswell said.

Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer have rescheduled games in the United States for Sunday.

Every year, hurricanes impact Mexico’s Pacific and Atlantic shores. Although their remnants occasionally hit California, cyclones with tropical storm intensity are uncommon.

As a result of climate change, scientists have warned that storms are getting stronger.

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