California on high alert as storm soaks region

Vehicles cross over a flood control basin that has almost reached the street. Pic/AP

Tropical Storm Hilary drenched Southern California from the coast to inland mountains and deserts on Sunday evening, prompting rescues from swollen rivers and forcing some of the nation's largest school districts to cancel Monday classes. Millions braced for more flooding and mudslides, even as the storm began to weaken.

The first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years, Hilary brought intensifying rain to the region, with some mountain and desert areas seeing more than half an average year's worth of rain come down in just one day, including the desert resort city of Palm Springs, which saw nearly 3 inches of rain by Sunday evening.

Forecasters warned of dangerous flash floods across Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, and fire officials rescued a dozen people from knee-deep water in a homeless encampment along the rising San Diego River. Rain and debris washed out some roadways and people left their cars stranded in standing water. Crews pumped floodwaters out of the emergency room at Eisenhower Medical Centre in Rancho Mirage.

The storm walloped California after making landfall in Mexico's arid Baja California Peninsula on Sunday in a sparsely populated area about 250 km south of Ensenada. It then moved through mudslide-prone Tijuana, threatening the improvised homes that cling to hillsides just south of the US border. The storm was projected to weaken as it continued moving northward over California and into Nevada, but threats remained.

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