One dead in Mexico as Storm Hilary brings ‘life-threatening’ floods and record rainfall to California
One person has died and another is missing as a tropical storm brings “life-threatening” floods and record rainfall to Mexico and California.
Storm Hilary was previously classed as a Category 4 hurricane but weakened as it made landfall on the Mexican coast, from where it moved north to California and other states in the southeastern US.
At least nine million people in southern California are under flood warnings as they face “life-threatening” rain, mudslides, tornadoes, high winds and power outages.
Parts of California have been placed under a state of emergency by governor Gavin Newsom.
One person died in the storm in the Mexican state of Baja California, after the car they were in was swept away in an overflowing stream.
In the US, two people were rescued from the Santa Clara river in Ventura County, north of Los Angeles, while another remains unaccounted for, police say.
The National Weather Service (NWS) has urged people to stay indoors and off the roads in and around Los Angeles, warning of “hazardous” conditions as rain water continues to run off the hills.
There are also warnings of flash flooding, with the NWS saying people should move to higher ground in affected areas, calling the weather “life-threatening”.
Vehicles cross over a flood control basin in Palm Desert, California. Pic: AP
Flooding in Palm Springs
A plough clears debris along a flooded Sierra Highway in Palmdale. Pic: AP
A number of rainfall records have been beaten in the state, with 1.53 inches recorded at the University of Southern California – up from 0.03 inches in 1906.
At Los Angeles International Airport, the previous 2022 record of “a trace” was well beaten overnight with 1.53 inches falling.
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Elsewhere, Long Beach (1.56 inches), Hollywood Burbank (1.61 inches), Palmdale (2.95 inches), Lancaster (2.72 inches), Sandberg (1.52 inches), Oxnard (0.77 inches) and Santa Barbara airports (0.06 inches) also beat previous records.
As well as the downpour, an earthquake hit southern California close to Ojai, around 80 miles (130km) northwest of Los Angeles, registering a magnitude of 5.1, with local reports saying it was felt widely in the region.
The aftermath in Baja California. Pic: Edith Aguilar
Hilary will likely weaken as it moves towards Nevada, however, though heavy rain will persist, with thousands of schools in the LA area closing.
Videos from transport and weather services posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, show deluges of rain water flowing down roads and tracks, carrying mud with it.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
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