Heavy rain from Hilary causes flooding in the Ocotillo area

Extreme meteorologist Dr. Reed Timmer reported from Southern California on Aug. 20 as Tropical Storm Hilary made landfall.

Transcript

00:00 Very heavy rain is impacting the Ocotillo area.

00:03 Firefighters are in position down here just in case of the flash flooding

00:07 that's going to be ripping down Myers Creek and also Coyote Wash here in Ocotillo.

00:12 This area was flooded yesterday morning as well during a big-time flooding event that came through.

00:17 The first flash flood warning has been issued just upstream from Ocotillo,

00:21 and that includes Myers Creek.

00:23 Life-threatening flash flooding is expected to come down that very steep terrain just to the west,

00:28 the San Marcos Mountains out here in Ocotillo, and hilly is definitely approaching.

00:33 The winds are going to start to increase, and we're definitely with the dominant convective band.

00:37 There's a severe thunderstorm warning as well just to the east up near El Centro,

00:41 and that storm certainly does have tornado potential as well.

00:44 It's starting to rotate. It has kind of a large east-to-west-oriented convergent band as well with it,

00:49 and I do think that there is certainly potential for tornadoes with that storm

00:53 as it lifts up to the north toward El Centro.

00:55 Severe weather, though, is a certainty as well as that mixing down.

00:59 Very strong winds just above the surface.

01:01 Any convection is doing that, so right now we're starting to shift into that catastrophic flash flood mode

01:07 and also the potential of tornadoes with a tornado watch coming very soon here across interior Southern California,

01:13 and that's going to include Palm Springs all the way up to the San Bernardinos.