Hurricane Hilary headed for Mexico's Baja California on Saturday, August 19, as the U.S. National Hurricane Center predicted "catastrophic and life-threatening flooding" for the peninsula and for the southwestern United States, where it was forecast to cross the border as a tropical storm on Sunday. Officials issued an evacuation advisory for the tourist destination of Santa Catalina Island, 23 miles (37 kilometers) off the Southern California coast, while authorities in Los Angeles scrambled to get the homeless off the streets and into shelters. "I don’t think any of us – I know me particularly – never thought I’d be standing here talking about a hurricane or a tropical storm," said Janice Hahn, chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
Forecasters said the storm could bring heavy rainfall to the southwestern United States, dumping 3 to 6 inches (8 to 15 centimeters) in places, with isolated amounts of up to 10 inches (25 centimeters), in portions of southern California and southern Nevada. "This is being labeled as historic, life-threatening, and potentially catastrophic rainfall for Southern California and a good chunk of the desert Southwest in general," said John Cangialosi, a senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center. "That is because we could see about a year's worth of rain from this event for those regions."
Courtney Carpenter, a National Weather Service warning coordination meteorologist, said experts forecast flash floods, mudslides, isolated tornadoes, and wind damage to Southern California, as well as life-threatening surf conditions and rip currents to the beaches.
By midday Saturday, the storm was centered about 350 miles (570 kilometers) south-southeast of Punta Eugenia, one of the westernmost spurs on Mexico's southern Baja peninsula. The hurricane was expected to brush past Punta Eugenia before making landfall along a sparsely populated area of the peninsula about 200 miles (330 kilometers) south of the Pacific port city of Ensenada. The U.S. National Park Service closed California's Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve to keep visitors from becoming stranded amid flooding. Cities across the region, including in Nevada and Arizona, offered sandbags to safeguard properties against floodwaters. Major League Baseball rescheduled three Sunday games in Southern California. SpaceX delayed the launch of a satellite-carrying rocket from a base on California’s central coast until at least Monday. The company said conditions in the Pacific could make it difficult for a ship to recover the rocket booster as heavy rainfall and strong winds began Saturday, and power outages are expected.
President Joe Biden said Friday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had pre-positioned staff and supplies in the region. "I urge everyone, everyone in the path of this storm, to take precautions and listen to the guidance of state and local officials," he said.
