Gavin Newsom declares a state of emergency and sheriff orders evacuations as Hurricane Hilary bears down on California: Panic buying sweeps stores as 42M brace for 'catastrophic flooding'

Daily Mail UK ^ | August 20, 2023 | Alice Wright

[Morgana]

Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency as California braces for Hurricane Hilary to hit today.

Residents in the south of the state have been given evacuation orders ahead of the historic storm making landfall around 1pm.

The governor's office has tried to reassure them extensive preparations are underway, including the deploying of 'more than 7,500 boots on the ground'.

But panic buying has set in and some supermarket shelves in San Diego and Los Angeles were stripped bare of essentials such as water and tinned food.

The tropical storm, the first set to make landfall in California since 1939, could impact more than 42million people.

'California continues to mobilize ahead of Hurricane Hilary's projected landfall in Southern California.

'People are urged to take all necessary precautions today' the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement on Saturday evening.

'Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency for much of Southern California to support Hurricane Hilary response and recovery efforts as the state continues mobilizing and coordinating resources ahead of the storm's forecasted impacts starting today.

'At the Governor's direction, there are currently more than 7,500 boots on the ground deployed to help local communities protect Californians from the impacts of Hurricane Hilary,' it read.

The state has prepared water rescue teams, California National Guard personnel and flood fighting equipment ahead of Hilary's arrival, officials said.

[Svartalfiar]

Anything north of the equator in the east pacific is now called a Hurricane. And anything below a Category 1 Hurricane is considered a Tropical Storm.

So it started as a Tropical Storm, grew into a Cat 4 Hurricane, and then slowed back down to a Tropical Storm again.

So if it hits these US or Mexico, hurricane. Not us, typhoon.

And yes, I am aware of that, but the article was written/talking about a single point in time. It should be consistent in using one or the other, not interchanging them.

[Openurmind]

It formed north of the equator in the east pacific. Geography makes the difference. In the north west pacific they are called Cyclones. In the Indian ocean they would be called a typhoon.

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/hurricanes-cyclones-and-typhoons-explained/

The name changes in stages as the winds increase and then decrease. They start as a Tropical depression, build into a tropical storm, build into a hurricane/cyclone/typhoon, build into higher category hurricanes/cyclones/typhoons. Then as the winds decrease they drop in categories down to a tropical storm again, then down to a tropical depression again.

So what they call it depends on the wind speeds at the time they are referring to it and where it is geographically.