Emergency workers rescued several people over the weekend after Tropical Storm Hilary poured over Southern California and into the desert city of Palm Springs.
On Monday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami downgraded Hilary to a post-tropical storm but said that “continued life-threatening and locally catastrophic flooding” was still expected over parts of the southwestern U.S., along with “record-breaking” rainfall and more potential for flooding in states like Oregon and Idaho, the Associated Press reports.
In Southern California, residents were facing flooded roads, downed trees, and mudslides. Palm Springs saw more than 3 inches of rain by Sunday evening.
“Thank God my family is OK,” Maura Taura said after a three-story-tall tree crashed down on her daughter’s two cars but missed the family’s house in the Sun Valley area of Los Angeles.
Tropical Storm Hilary was the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years. Officials say one person drowned in the storm.
“We basically blew all of our previous rainfall records out of the water,” National Weather Service meteorologist Elizabeth Adams in San Diego told the AP.
City Council President Paul Krekorian said at a news conference that “Los Angeles was tested, but we came through it, and we came through it with minimal impacts considering what we endured.”
The Los Angeles Unified School District also closed all campuses on Monday. San Diego moved its first day of school from Monday to Tuesday.
The storm is the most recent weather disaster to damage the U.S. In Hawaii, Maui is facing fires that have killed more than 100 people, becoming the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than 100 years. Meanwhile, in Canada, firefighters are trying to battle through a tough fire season.
In the Caribbean, residents are facing incoming Tropical Storm Franklin near Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Experts are also watching a weather system in the Gulf of Mexico that they say has an 80 percent chance of turning into a tropical disturbance or tropical storm.
Related:
Maui Wildfire Death Toll Climbs to 96
One Man Died Trying to Protect His Beloved Dog During the Wildfires in Hawaii
Harvest Kumulani Church Unharmed by Maui Wildfires: 'By God's Grace'
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Mario Tama/Staff
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
