Hurricane Hilary weakens to Category 1 as risk of ‘catastrophic’ flooding in Southern California remains high
Hurricane Hilary weakened to a Category 1 storm early Sunday, but threats of “catastrophic and life-threatening flooding” remain as Southern California prepares for landfall.
Hilary is expected to make landfall as a tropical storm, the first to hit Southern California since September 1939.
The latest National Weather Advisory, issued 2 a.m. PDT on Sunday, warned of a “potentially historic amount of rainfall” that is “expected to cause flash, urban, and arroyo flooding including landslides, mudslides, and debris flows.”
Hurricane conditions are expected to spread over the Baja Peninsula and the Southwestern United States. Hilary has been downgraded since Saturday, when the NWS declared it a Category 2 hurricane, but damage to the area is still estimated to be high.
The “dangerous to locally catastrophic” flooding is expected through Monday morning, while strong wind swells are expected to make surfing conditions life-threatening through the next couple of days, according to the advisory.
As heavy rains continue northward, the max. Sustained wind speed reached 85 mph, while it remained at 21 mph, at the time of the advisory.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in anticipation of landfall. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has positioned staff and supplies in Southern California, as FEMA warned “those living in the path of Hurricane Hilary” to “take steps now to prepare for the impacts of this storm, which is expected to bring heavy rainfall and flooding.”
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