Hurricane Hilary threatens Mexico, California with 'catastrophic floods'

MEXICO CITY - Category 4 Hurricane Hilary

hurtled towards Mexico’s Baja California peninsula

on Friday, a US government agency said, as it issued its first-ever tropical storm watch for California and warned of life-threatening and possibly catastrophic floods.

The National Hurricane Centre (NHC) expects the powerful storm to come close to Mexico’s popular Cabo San Lucas resort city by late Friday, though it should weaken before hitting the United States West Coast this weekend, nevertheless bringing dangerous rains.

“Life-threatening and potentially catastrophic flooding are likely over much of Baja California and Southern California this weekend and early next week,” the Miami-based agency said in its latest advisory.

The Baja California peninsula spans two of Mexico’s states.

The northern-most one cancelled non-essential public activities on Friday, including school classes until Monday, and the authorities in Mexico’s second-largest city, Tijuana, urged people in high-risk zones to move to temporary shelters.

In the peninsula’s southern state, the authorities postponed a local baseball match and said ports would be closed until late on Friday.

“Without being alarmist, we must all take precautions and stock up on water and basic necessities at home, without resorting to panic buying,” the state’s governor said.

NHC deputy director Jamie Rhome warned of flood risks from San Diego to Los Angeles and Las Vegas, with particularly high risks around the Palm Springs area as the storm hits at the end of the weekend.

“If you’ve got weekend plans, it’s probably time to start altering those plans,” he said.

Major League Baseball brought forward three Southern California games originally scheduled for Sunday as the region braced itself for the arrival of Hurricane Hilary.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels and San Diego Padres were to play doubleheaders on Saturday instead of playing scheduled series finales on Sunday.

The Dodgers were expected to play two games against the Miami Marlins on Saturday while the Angels played two against the Tampa Bay Rays and the Padres played two against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Although cold waters off California’s coastline usually weaken hurricanes and tropical storms, Mr Rhome said “this system is expected to hold on to its strength because it will be moving fast”.

Hilary was moving west-northwest at nearly 19kmh, packing maximum sustained winds of nearly 215kmh, after being upgraded to Category 4 overnight.

Mr Rhome said California and southern Nevada faced risks from severe flooding caused by up to 25.4cm of rainfall, while the agency warned a storm surge could cause coastal flooding and destructive waves along Mexico’s Baja California peninsula.

According to the National Weather Service (NWS), this is the first time in its records that a high-risk warning has been issued for California’s south-easterly desert regions.

It is expected to rain heavily in California, Nevada and neighbouring Arizona, after a record-breaking summer heatwave.

Phoenix, Arizona, endured a month-long stretch of temperatures exceeding 43 deg C throughout July, according to the NWS, trapped under a “heat dome” of stagnant air.

In California’s Death Valley desert,

temperatures hit 53 deg C in mid-July,

among the highest recorded on Earth in the past 90 years, while tens of millions of Americans were put under heat alerts.

Before the heatwave, about a dozen atmospheric rivers had battered southern California, its central coast and agricultural heartland, causing flooding, landslides and road closures as the authorities ordered thousands of people to evacuate. REUTERS, AFP