Unprecedented rainfall battered southern California on Monday, August 21, where Tropical Storm Hilary caused school, road and business closures before continuing westward.

Several roads were submerged and many motorists stranded, as in the usually arid area of ??Palm Springs, 160 kilometers from Los Angeles. Daily rainfall has reached unprecedented levels in southern California, where tropical storms are very rare, authorities said.

Weakened Hilary is now considered a post-tropical cyclone, but heavy rains could still cause flooding and severe squalls are still expected, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

The famous Death Valley National Park, which is rather subject to oppressive heat, has been closed as a precaution, as have schools in the district of Los Angeles, the second largest in the United States. After passing through Nevada, the storm is expected to track further north into Oregon and Idaho.

An earthquake of magnitude 5.1 has also occurred near Ojai, in southern California, but no casualties or damage have been reported so far.

“Can’t get in or out of Palm Springs anymore”

Hilary had passed through the Baja California peninsula in northwestern Mexico on Sunday, where she caused the death of a motorist whose car was swept away by a flood.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said “this is an unprecedented weather event.” Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, declared a state of emergency in most of the southern region of the state. Reception centers have been set up and teams of rescuers have been mobilized.

Grace Elena Garner, the mayor of Palm Springs, noted on CNN the seriousness of the situation. “Right now, all our roads are flooded. You can no longer enter or leave Palm Springs and this is the case for the majority of the Coachella Valley. We are all stuck,” she lamented.

US President Joe Biden is closely monitoring developments, according to the White House. It is the first tropical storm of the season on the Pacific coast.

According to scientists, storms are becoming more powerful due to global warming.

“We also need to look at what climate change has to do with these severe weather events,” Deanne Criswell, head of the federal disaster management agency, told CNN.