Tropical storm Hilary moves on: But wait, there’s more rain coming
With Tropical Storm Hilary moving north and out of the Victor Valley, rain and temperatures in the 90s are expected to return this week.
Hilary, the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years, moved into the High Desert last Saturday and Sunday. The storm from the weakening hurricane brought heavy rain and flooding and dropped local temperatures into the 80s and 70s.
On Monday, residents in places like Adelanto, Apple Valley and Hesperia, enjoyed cloudy skies and a high temperature of 77 degrees. Phelan’s high was 71 while Barstow recorded 79 and Big Bear Lake 61.
Monsoonal activity from the south also brought brief rain showers to the Victor Valley on Monday night
Temperatures in the 90s are expected to return Thursday through Sunday in the High Desert, the National Weather Service reported.
Monsoonal moisture from the east will also return Thursday and bring another chance of showers and thunderstorms to the mountains and deserts, the National Weather Service said.
The moisture won't last long as it should exit to the northeast late Friday and into early Saturday. The long-range forecast calls for high temperatures near 100 degrees beginning next week.
Meanwhile, crews worked to clear mud that blocked the homes of about 800 residents in the San Bernardino Mountains, Cal Fire Battalion Chief Alison Hesterly said.
In the Coachella Valley city of Desert Hot Springs, Steven Michael Chacon said the roads in the housing development where he and his husband live were impassable due to flooding and he was concerned emergency crews might not be able to reach people.
“Basically everybody’s got to stay put, there’s no way in or out,” he said Monday morning.
Authorities also say a woman was unaccounted for after witnesses saw her trailer swept away in a flash flood.
In one dramatic scene, rescue officials in the desert community of Cathedral City, near Palm Springs, drove a bulldozer through mud to a swamped care home and rescued 14 residents by scooping them up and carrying them to safety, Fire Chief Michael Contreras said.
“We were able to put the patients into the scoop. It’s not something that I’ve ever done in my 34 years as a firefighter, but disasters like this really cause us to have to look at those means of rescue that aren’t in the book and that we don’t do every day,” he said at a news conference.
Hilary shattered daily rain records in San Diego and likely dumped the equivalent of a full year's worth on Death Valley National Park, forcing the park to be closed indefinitely and leaving about 400 people sheltering at Furnace Creek, Stovepipe Wells and Panamint Springs until roads could be made passable, park officials said.
“We basically blew all of our previous rainfall records out of the water,” National Weather Service meteorologist Elizabeth Adams in San Diego told The Associated Press.
Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227 or RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Tropical storm Hilary moves on: But wait, there’s more rain coming
