People visit the "Forever Marilyn" statue, designed by US artist John Seward Johnson II, framed by storm clouds as Hurricane Hilary heads north toward southern California, in Palm Springs, California, on 19 August, 2023. Hilary brought heavy rains on August 19 to portions of Mexico's Baja California peninsula and the southwestern United States. Photo: DAVID SWANSON / AFP
Hurricane Hilary hurtled towards Mexico's Baja California peninsula on Saturday local time, a US government agency said, blanketing the region with heavy rain amid warnings of catastrophic and life-threatening flooding on the peninsula and the US Southwest.
One man died in the Baja California Sur state when a family of five was swept away into the sea while crossing a stream, according to a Mexican official, who also shared images of flooded and roads that were swept away in the area.
In the United States, the hurricane was disrupting flights and sports games.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the hurricane was weakening on its path to the west-central coast of the peninsula on Saturday evening. It predicted it would lose more strength and turn into a tropical storm as it heads towards southern California on Sunday.
But dangerous rains remain a major concern, the NHC said, with up to 25cm of rainfall expected in some regions of Baja California and California.
"Flash and urban flooding, locally catastrophic, is expected, especially in the northern portions of the peninsula," the Miami-based agency said in its latest advisory.
Heavy rainfall was expected across portions of southern California and southern Nevada as well, the NHC added.
"Dangerous to catastrophic flooding is expected," the NHC said.
US President Joe Biden received a briefing from senior staff on preparations for the hurricane and his team's work with state and local agencies ahead of the storm, the White House said.
In the Baja California peninsula, some school and other non-essential activities were canceled through Monday, and authorities in Mexico's second-largest city, Tijuana, urged people in high-risk zones to move to temporary shelters.
Images shared on social media showed flash floods in the coastal town of Santa Rosalia, on the eastern side of the Baja California peninsula, with water gushing down what used to be a road, sweeping away a tree.
Some 48km south, in the town of Mulege, where the one person died when crossing a stream, Municipal President Edith Aguilar Villavicencio said on her Facebook account that Mexico's Navy and local firefighters were rescuing people.
Hilary was moving north northwest at nearly 27km per hour, packing maximum sustained winds of 161km/h the NHC said.
US authorities have warned citizens and businesses to take precautions.
Nearly 200 flights scheduled for Sunday local time at the San Diego International Airport have been cancelled and another 184 on Monday, according to the FlightAware website.
In California, Major League Baseball's Los Angeles-based Dodgers and Angels brought their Sunday games forward to Saturday to turn them into split doubleheaders.
The city's soccer teams, Los Angeles FC and LA Galaxy, both postponed their Sunday matches due to threat of heavy rains and flooding.
- This story was first published by Reuters.