California braces for flooding as Hilary nears

STORY: Tropical Storm Hilary barreled toward southern California on Sunday, blanketing the region including Mexico with heavy rain amid warnings of catastrophic and life-threatening flooding on the Baja peninsula.

Long Beach, California, residents raced to fill sandbags ahead of the approaching storm.

"I'm just worried about flooding, people's lives primarily. And of course, flooding where people lose some property is one thing, but flooding where people die is another. And I'm afraid people might die.”

“Right now, just getting prepared with sandbags, hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. And just trying to alleviate some of the water damage that possibly can happen."

Some visiting California's Catalina Island called off their vacation plans.

"We got the news alert this morning and we just felt kind of like, yeah, this is best. It's best that we leave... just for the sake of safety and making sure that they have the resources over on the island for the locals. If something does happen out there, you don't want the tourists to be taking up the local resources for them."

Supermarket shelves were nearly empty in Malibu over the weekend as residents stocked up on supplies.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Hilary, which had been a Category Four hurricane, was downgraded to a Tropical Storm on Sunday morning.

But California officials warned that flooding and power outages were certainties.

"What we know for certain is that there will be sustained high winds of up to 50 miles per hour and that there will be enough rain to flood low-lying areas like Mission Valley and the Tijuana River Valley."

"There will be power outages. Make no mistake, there will be power outages across southern California."

The storm was already wreaking havoc in Mexico, where officials said Mexico's navy and local firefighters were rescuing people in some areas.

One man died in the Baja California Sur state when a family of five was swept away into the sea while crossing a stream, according to a Mexican official.