By Razeile Joyce P. Aban
Hurricane Hilary is a tropical cyclone. Tropical cyclones are formed from low pressure systems that form over warm tropical waters. When tropical cyclones occur, they become very dangerous because according to bom.gov.au, it says “Tropical cyclones are dangerous because they can produce extreme winds, heavy rainfall with flooding and damaging storm surge that can cause inundation of low-lying coastal areas.” (bom.gov.au). Weather from Tropical cyclones can be critical because of the great amount of rain and destruction. This month, Mexico and Southern California are struggling to deal with Hurricane Hilary.
How it started:
The differences between the photos show how dangerous Hurricane Hilary is, especially for Southern California where storms of this size are very rare. Hurricane Hilary is in category 4 meaning the winds are around 130-156 mph. The hurricane was spotted on August 16, 2023, in Mexico and from there it started forming. While forming into a larger hurricane, the strong wind and floods destroyed buildings, land, and farms. It also causes many flash floods and mudslides. Many people were killed. Those who survived were left with damage and lost many personal belongings. People are also going to beaches and surfing during the storm which is dangerous but pretty cool.
Floods and rain in Southern California:
The hurricane and floods were so strong they traveled all the way to Southern California. When the hurricane started to move towards Southern California, many hurricane warnings were alerted to everyone near the hurricane making it one of the first warnings in California to have a tropical storm warning. Many people were panic buying and trying to figure out what to do when a hurricane came. During the hurricane many people died because of the rain, floods, and strong winds. Floods were destroying property across Southern California. Houses had their roofs blown away. Cars were swept away in the currents. Individuals’ lives were uprooted because of the storm. Then out of nowhere, there was an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.1.
“There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, but according to social media users, it was felt across the greater Los Angeles area, including the Inland Empire.”
This earthquake started around Ojai and traveled around Los Angeles and the Inland Empire. This means that the earthquake was so powerful, people felt it even though they were far away from where the earthquake started. This earthquake was not common because the last time California had a 5 magnitude earthquake was in 1932 and it was during a storm.
In some parts of California, like Cathedral City, Los Angeles, Inland Empire, residents there experienced flash floods and severe rain. Many people took advantage of the rain by washing their furniture, playing with the rain, or swimming and surfing. For example, there was a viral video of a mother washing her furniture from the rain of the hurricane.
People were resourceful with the rain and creative on how to deal with the storm. Another example of people using the rain is swimming on it. Videos on the internet show people having fun in the floods. “A video shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, purportedly shows a few people in Southern California dancing, swimming in and jumping face-first into the floodwater”. There are a lot of floods happening around the world and people cope differently but what people in California are doing is playing in the floods. This is very strange because flood water contains a lot of germs and there are a lot of things to worry about then playing in the flood.
As stated above, floods destroy property and cost a huge amount of money. People’s houses are flooded and their cars, animal’s houses are also destroyed, and floods make things worse for people that live in poverty.
Summary:
As stated above, hurricane Hilary is a category 4, tropical cyclone. During the storm, it caused floods, heavy rain, strong winds, and mudslides which destroyed buildings and land. Many people are stressing out from the storm because it is the first time in forever dealing with a tropical cyclone. People cope by being creative with the rain from the storm and using the storm to surf in the ocean and swim in the floods.
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