Hurricane Hilary, an unexpected category 4 hurricane that started in Baja California, West of Mexico, has caused major flooding in Eastern Nevada this past week. According to CBS News, Hilary has brought “record-breaking rainfall” to Southern California. Just like Nevada, California’s atmosphere is on the dryer side. Although this tropical storm had already built up enough speed and mass that normal climates weren’t going to affect it.
Junior Maya Garay says, “I was surprised how much rain we got last week. The day of the football game was so bad, it was literally pouring.”
A lot of individuals were confused by Hurricane Hilary, it was set to be a large disaster for not only California and Mexico, but also Vegas. As of now, all Las Vegas has experienced is a great deal of flooding, which is still unusual for LV residents.
Global warming is predicted to be a huge factor in this hurricane. TIME explains that storms usually form in the Eastern Pacific and move to open space or down to Mexico. This storm happened to be a bit different as it was able to grow easily with the warm air and no excess crosswinds. Meanwhile, this past week in Las Vegas has been hit with a lot of rain that caused major flooding and other damages.
Senior Aliandra Rizo explains, “The rain was nice but it was definitely a surprise. Vegas never gets rain so I think we needed it.”
Over in North Las Vegas, the rain this week came down pretty strong. However, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported that “three-quarters to an inch-and-a-half of rain were recorded across the valley between Friday and Saturday night.” Higher amounts of rain were recorded up at Mount Charleston and Lee and Kyle Canyons, up to 8 inches. Mount Charleston currently has a lot of damage from the flooding. Roads are cracked, power was lost, and trails are washed out.
Garay continues, “I love going up to Mount Charleston, I hope everything can get resolved soon and the residents can return to their homes safe and sound.”
The Linq hotel’s parking garage located downtown at the Strip was flooded with water on August 20th. Thankfully this garage was made specifically for large storms like this, and doubles as a kind of “drainage system”. Other urban areas and other populated places like golf courses are subject to the flooding as well. Muddy areas and ponding water on roadways are hazardous, and Vegas has seen a lot of this the past few days. For now, the rainfall has come to a halt, and California is supposed to get hit with more of the major flooding. More updates are available specifically on the Weather Channel or online news reports.
