People surf as clouds past shortly after sunset at Ocean Beach with Hurricane Hilary approaching on August 19, 2023 in San Diego, California. (Photo by MARIO TAMA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
Hurricane Hilary is bringing rain across Southern California and the Southwest on Sunday, with some roads closed, hundreds of flights canceled and the potential damage and loss from the rare Pacific storm reaching as much as $2 billion.
After rapidly gaining strength Friday, Hilary’s top winds have been falling since but the widespread threat of heavy rain is raising flood risks across northern Mexico, California and much of the US West.
California Governor Gavin Newsom declared an emergency and has mobilized the National Guard and state crews.
While there will be some wind damage across the region, the worst impact will be from the flooding rains, which could cause losses ranging from $1 billion to $2 billion, Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler with Enki Research said in a blog post.
"Rain is obviously the biggest story,” said Bill Deger, a meteorologist with commercial-forecaster AccuWeather Inc.
While rain amounts could vary from as much as 4 inches in Los Angeles and San Diego to 20 inches in parts of Mexico, "it is certainly going to be enough to cause life-threating flooding.”
Hilary triggered California’s first tropical storm warnings and is a rare Pacific storm that could bring a year’s worth of rain in a day to some areas, the latest bout of severe weather around the world. In the last 10 years, flooding has caused the most deaths from tropical systems in the US.
Early Sunday, the storm’s winds had dropped to 80 miles (128 kilometers) per hour as it moved along Mexico’s Baja California on a track aimed for the US Southwest, the National Hurricane Center said.
Around the US, more than 1,400 flights have been canceled with the majority of them in Las Vegas and San Diego, with other airports around the West hit as well, according to FlightAware, an airline tracking service.
MetroLink commuter rail around Los Angeles has reduced service Sunday, as has San Diego’s Coaster service.
Some roads in Southern California have also been closed. Hilary will weaken and likely remain a tropical storm as it moves north later Sunday, Degar said.
Regardless of its status, it will still drop heavy rain, especially in the mountains. Flood watches and warnings stretch across California to Idaho, the National Weather Service said. By Tuesday, the worst should have passed.
In addition to Hilary, the hurricane center is also track a tropical depression and four potential storms in the Atlantic, where that basin’s season is about to enter its most active time.
