California braces for flooding as Hilary nears

Bangkok Post

Hurricane Hilary hurtled towards Mexico's Baja California peninsula on Sunday, as residents braced for catastrophic and life-threatening flooding in the U.S. Southwest. - REUTERS

Transcript

00:00 Tropical Storm Hillary barreled toward Southern California on Sunday, blanketing the region,

00:07 including Mexico, with heavy rain amid warnings of catastrophic and life-threatening flooding

00:13 on the Baja Peninsula.

00:15 Long Beach, California residents raced to fill sandbags ahead of the approaching storm.

00:20 I'm just worried about flooding people's lives primarily, and of course, flooding where

00:29 people lose some property is one thing, but flooding where people die is another, and

00:35 I'm afraid people might die.

00:36 Right now, just getting prepared with sandbags, hoping for the best, but preparing for the

00:42 worst, and just trying to alleviate some of the water damage that possibly could happen.

00:48 Some visiting California's Catalina Island called off their vacation plans.

00:52 We got the news alert this morning, and we just all kind of went, "Yeah, this is best.

00:57 It's best if we leave," and just for the sake of safety and making sure that they have the

01:02 resources over on the island for the locals.

01:04 If something does happen out there, you don't want the tourists to be taking up the local

01:08 resources for them.

01:10 Supermarket shelves were nearly empty in Malibu over the weekend as residents stocked up on

01:15 supplies.

01:16 The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Hillary, which had been a Category 4 hurricane, was

01:21 downgraded to a tropical storm on Sunday morning.

01:25 California officials warned that flooding and power outages were certainties.

01:31 What we know for certain is that there will be sustained high winds of up to 50 miles

01:36 per hour, and that there will be enough rain to flood low-lying areas like Mission Valley

01:41 and the Tijuana River Valley.

01:43 There will be power outages.

01:45 Make no mistake.

01:46 There will be power outages across Southern California.

01:49 The storm was already wreaking havoc in Mexico, where officials said Mexico's Navy and local

01:54 firefighters were rescuing people in some areas.

01:58 One man died in the Baja California Sur state when a family of five was swept away into

02:04 the sea while crossing a stream, according to a Mexican official.

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