On August 18, Hurricane Hilary, now a category 4 hurricane, dramatically increased the chances of flooding in Southern California and temporary shelters in Baja California, Mexico.

As Hurricane Hilary continues to head North, Southern California, and Mexico are preparing for powerful storms that could produce seriously dangerous flooding and the strongest winds that haven’t been seen for decades. 

Residents are racing to fill sandbags and fuel up generators before extreme weather hits. A group of emergency officials are warning that roads might be overwhelmed and they are currency setting up evacuation centers.

“Well, apparently it could have been much worse,” AP United States History teacher Pankaj Sharma. “I think that it’s unfortunate for the people who live there and I think a lot of people worry in the future if the ocean waters are warmer, and if extreme weather is more common then more parts of the world will be experiencing tropical storms or hurricanes or typhoons like this, which is very dangerous and deadly.”

The category 4 hurricane is so unusual that it has encouraged the National Hurricane Center to issue a tropical storm watch for California for the first time in history. 

In California, the mountain and desert communities are particularly concerned. The National Weather Service warned Coachella Valley that eight inches of rain would come, about 120 miles from Los Angeles. The tropical storm might force multiple evacuations as well as rescues. 

As of August 18, Hurricane Hilary was about 350 miles south of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, causing worry in the Baja California peninsula. Hilary shows a threat to all of the Mexican state of Baja California, home to over 3.8 million residents. Catalino Zavala, the state’s secretary general said that 80 temporary shelters would be available to get 9,000 people.

Experts claim that there is no risk that the storm will actually touch California as a hurricane due to the cool ocean temperatures in this part of the Pacific Ocean. Hilary is suspected to weaken into a tropical storm by the time it reaches southern California.