Hurricane season

Orkansäsongen

Dödligt regn hotar när Hilary dundrar mot Kalifornien

California residents are preparing for the storm by stocking up on sandbags. Watchara Phomicinda / AP

Deadly rain threatens as Hilary thunders toward California  

Hurricane Hilary is now approaching the southern California mainland and the Mexican peninsula of Baja California, US media reports. Although the storm has been downgraded several notches on the hurricane scale in the past 24 hours, it is still a potentially very dangerous hurricane.  

Above all, it is the feared amounts of rain that are worrying. Meteorologists have spoken of "catastrophic and life-threatening" flooding in large parts of the southwestern United States.   

Around lunchtime, Swedish time, Hilary was approximately 46 miles from San Diego in California. At the time, the wind strength was around 130 kilometers per hour. 

Hilary is the first tropical storm in 84 years to reach Southern California.  

People in Long Beach, California, fill sense bags on Saturday. Damian Dovarganes / AP 

Hurricane Hilary downgraded three notches: "Don't lower your guard"  

Hurricane Hilary has been downgraded from category 4 to category 1 in a short time. When it reaches southern California on Sunday, the hurricane is expected to have turned into a tropical storm, writes AP. 

Meteorologists point out that Hilary will still go down in the history books as the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years. Hilary is expected to bring heavy rain, strong winds, high waves, power outages and flooding. 

- This does not reduce the threat, especially not the flood threat. Don't let the weakening trend and intensity make you let your guard down, says Jamie Rhome of the US National Hurricane Center.  

On the other side of the border, in Tijuana, Mexico, all beaches were closed on Saturday. The country's navy evacuated 850 people from the islands off the coast.