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SAN DIEGO — San Diego County officials proclaimed a local emergency Saturday night, hours before Hurricane Hilary is set to make landfall in the region as a tropical storm.
The proclamation, which was issued at 9:30 p.m., was sent out by the county’s Chief Administrative Officer Helen Robbins-Meyer on behalf of the County Board of Supervisors.
According to a press release from the county, the local emergency will allow the county to deploy “all available resources, actions and measures deemed necessary” to ensure the safety of residents and property. The emergency will also open up avenues for assistance from other local agencies.
The next step will be for the Board of Supervisors to ratify the emergency within seven days, according to officials.
This proclamation comes after California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a state of emergency during a visit to southern California Saturday evening to meet with members of the National Guard who will be serving as first responders to communities impacted by Hurricane Hilary.
“California has thousands of people on the ground working hand-in-hand with federal and local personnel to support communities in Hurricane Hilary’s path with resources, equipment and expertise,” Newsom said in a release. “We’re mobilizing all of government as we prepare and respond to this unprecedented storm.”
Hurricane Hilary — currently graded as a Category 1 storm — is on its way north, moving up the coast of the Baja California peninsula. According to the National Weather Service, Hilary is expected to reach Southern California early Sunday as a tropical storm.
A Tropical Storm Warning — a first of its kind advisory for Southern California — was issued on Friday, meaning that tropical storm conditions like strong winds and heavy precipitation are expected to set in.
The heaviest rainfall for the region is expected to occur Sunday morning through Sunday night. Dangerous to “locally catastrophic” flooding will be likely during this timeframe, particularly for residents in mountain and desert neighborhoods, NWS explained.
Flood watches have been issued for some of these communities in the storm’s path that are vulnerable to heavy precipitation in the storm’s path. Local evacuations in the San Bernardino and Orange counties have been implemented.
A full list of communities under a flood watch can be found here.
County officials are urging residents to shelter-in-place and stay in the loop using emergency notification systems like AlertSanDiego. Residents should also be prepared in the case of power outages, downed trees, difficult travel and evacuations due to flooding.
“My ask of San Diegans is to prepare yourselves. Be a part of the solution,” San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said in a press conference on Friday. “It will be a very significant storm event late Sunday through early Monday. We know that, we see that coming now, so let’s prepare.”
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