Hurricane Hilary hits SoCal (plus an earthquake)

We had quite a weekend here in southern California as hurricane Hilary made landfall as a tropical storm. Schools are closed today in San Diego and Los Angeles on what was supposed to be the start of the new school year. There were no deaths in LA County but the downpour certainly made a mess with flash floods, fallen trees and car accidents all over the place. The worst hit area appeared to be Palm Springs.

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In Palm Springs, a local state of emergency was declared due “unprecedented rainfall and flooding of local roadways and at least one swift water rescue,” according to officials.

“Palm Springs police and fire continue to urge residents to stay home and avoid driving during these dangerous conditions,” a statement from the city said.

UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain posted on social media Sunday afternoon that Palm Springs “recorded its heaviest hourly rainfall on record, and intense tropical downpours could continue for hours in the Coachella Valley.”

Dozens of people lost cars in the deluge. This is from Cathedral City:

Homes in Cathedral City were flooded as well.

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Looks like at least one car didn’t make it through the deep water.

And that truck looks like it’s done.

These riverbeds are normally dry:

This is from Palm Desert:

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This is from nearby Rancho Mirage:

The I-10 freeway which is the major route to Palm Springs and surrounding areas is shut down in both directions and the city’s 911 system is also down.

“Right now we have flooding on all of our roads. There’s no way in or out of Palm Springs and that’s the case for the majority of the Coachella valley. We’re all stuck. Our major freeway, I-10, is also closed in both directions. This is a very extreme situation at the moment. Our 911 lines are also down. Any resident that needs 911 can text 911 in the city of Palm Springs or they can call a non-emergency number,” Mayor Grace Garner said Monday.

If all of that wasn’t enough, we also had an earthquake Sunday:

The 5.1-magnitude quake struck at 2:41 p.m. about 4 miles (7 kilometers) southeast of the mountain community of Ojai, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Again, it seems no one was hurt but it did scare people.

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Overall, not a great weekend for the state though with this deluge we continue to be almost free of drought.

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