Hurricane Hilary Targets California & The West...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | It was - what? - only a few months ago that the water level of Lake Mead over Hoover Dam was dangerously low, the Colorado River barely a picture of its old bountiful self and the American West said to be dying of thirst.

Welcome Hurricane Hilary.

Rains, rains, and more rains are on tap for Southern California, Arizona and Nevada as it makes landfall after storming in over Baja California in neighboring Mexico.

This from axios.cm: [ Tropical Storm Hilary is bringing the likelihood of "catastrophic and life-threatening flooding" to California, while prompting unprecedented tropical storm warnings for Los Angeles and San Diego.

Threat level: The storm is dumping two years or more worth of rain in California's desert areas. It is also bringing tropical rainfall rates, which can be torrential, to areas that have rarely, if ever, experienced them.

California is now under a state of emergency, and evacuations away from the most vulnerable areas to mudslides, debris flows and other hazards are expected today in southern California especially.

In its 5pm ET advisory, the National Hurricane Center said tropical storm-force winds are now being felt in Southern California, and a Weather Service bulletin reported wind gusts as high as 78 mph in mountain areas.

The Weather Prediction Center has painted a large zone in southern California and Southwestern Nevada as facing a "high risk" of excessive rainfall and flash flooding on Sunday, including San Bernardino National Forecast, Death Valley, Barstow, Indio, and Palmdale, Calif. ]

In Clark County, Nevada (Las Vegas), a State of Emergency was declared at midday Sunday. Heavy rains were expected overnight.

It is night & day out there. One month you can't get a raindrop, the next the sky is falling on you.

These are strange days, what with Hawaii still dealing with the huge wildfire that destroyed Maui's lovely tourist town of Lahaina just last week.

Sheeeeeeesh.

What region is next on the Disaster List?...

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[EDITOR'S NOTE:...Some news outlets are calling it a Tropical Storm. The Los Angeles Times and the Arizona Republic are calling it a hurricane, as we have decided...]