LAS VEGAS (CN) — Southern California, Nevada and western Arizona could be slammed with “unprecedented” amounts of “life-threatening” rainfall along with strong winds as remnants of Hurricane Hilary, on Friday a Category 4 hurricane west of Baja California, hits landfall over the weekend.
“What we’re looking at is the potential for historic rainfall over a widespread area from Saturday through Monday,” said Dan Berc, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Las Vegas on Friday.
Berc suggests rescheduling plans because “this is going to be a special kind of event that will impact everyone to some degree.”
Las Vegas’ annual rainfall is 4.2 inches at Harry Reid International Airport. This storm could bring one to three inches, with the potential for four inches.
“That’s a lot of rain, and when we see that kind of rain we get a lot of flooding in this area,” said Berc. A flash flood warning has been issued for areas around Las Vegas until Monday afternoon.
“I would expect the real hurricane influence will begin (Saturday) afternoon and evening, and then continue all Sunday and into Monday,” Berc said.
After the storm is done in Las Vegas, it will continue northward to northern Nevada and into Idaho and Montana, said Berc.
The last time a tropical storm, with sustained winds of 40 to 60 mph, reached landfall in the western United States was 1997 in the Imperial Valley of California. Before that, a tropical storm reached Long Beach in 1939, according to Alex Tardy, a warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service in San Diego.
High surf, high winds and flooding are the major concerns in San Diego County, said Tardy, who called the impending storm “as serious as it gets” and “extremely rare.”
Tardy suggests people prepare by putting loose objects inside and checking drainage around their dwellings. He said avoid driving on Sunday into Monday morning, since he expects some roads to have plenty of mud and rocks on them, and even be washed out.
“Sunday is not a day to travel,” warned Tardy, “and even Monday morning. If you’re in a flood-prone area, you’re likely to have flooding in this scenario.”
Tardy said it was the first time that he knows of that a “tropical storm watch” has been issued for Southern California by the National Hurricane Center.
“This is really unprecedented rainfall for the deserts. It’s not the monsoon where it’s just pockets of heavy rain, which are bad enough. It’s widespread heavy rain,” warned Tardy.
Some communities, like Seal Beach in LA County, are erecting sand berms on the coast to protect homes. Officials in San Diego County are warning the public to stay away from the ocean and to stay off the roads. A flash flood warning is in effect for many areas of Southern California.
Death Valley, also in California, could see three times its average annual rainfall from just this event.
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