CABO LUCAS: States across the typically arid US southwest braced on Sunday for torrential rain and potentially life-threatening flooding, as Hurricane Hilary barreled up Mexico’s coast, where authorities reported at least one fatality.

At its peak, Hilary reached Category 4 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, but it was expected to weaken to a tropical storm before reaching southern California on Sunday afternoon, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

On Sunday morning it was a Category 1 hurricane packing sustained winds of around 80 miles (130 kilometres) per hour as it moved north just off Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula, the NHC said.

“Catastrophic and life-threatening flooding likely over Baja California and portions of the south-western US through Monday,” the US government agency warned.

One person died in Mexico after a vehicle was swept away by a rising stream, Mexico’s Civil Protection agency said in a statement on Saturday, while warning of landslides and road closures in Baja California.

Hilary was expected to track inland and north over the next day or two, depositing up to 10 inches of rain on parts of Mexico, California and Nevada, according to the NHC. Tornadoes were possible in parts of the Colorado River Valley, Mojave Desert and Imperial Valley, it said.

The US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has deployed teams to areas in Hilary’s path, while California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for much of the state’s southern area.

Nancy Ward, director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, said Hilary could be one of the worst storms to hit the state in more than a decade. “Make no mistake,” she told a press conference Saturday. “This is a very, very dangerous and significant storm.”

‘Waiting for the weather’

“We took all the precautionary measures last night,” Omar Olvera said at the Cabo San Lucas beachfront restaurant where he works.

With sandbags piled protectively around the restaurant, he said, “We’re just looking out for the workers and waiting for the weather to come.” Streets in the town of Todos Santos, on the west coast of the peninsula, were largely deserted Saturday while the nearby beach in Los Cerritos was closed due to rough waves.

The Mexican government deployed almost 19,000 soldiers in the states most affected by the storm, while the federal electric utility sent 800 workers and hundreds of vehicles to respond to any outages.

US President Joe Biden, who was at a rented vacation home with his family on Lake Tahoe along the California-Nevada border, was briefed Saturday by senior staff on preparations for the storm, the White House said.

In San Diego, the US Navy said ships and submarines would be heading out to sea ahead of the storm’s arrival. US authorities urged people to take the dangers seriously.

“Hurricane Hilary is going to be a serious impact and threat to southern California,” FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said on CNN.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2023