Tropical storm Hilary caused no deaths, injuries or significant damage in Los Angeles, according to mayor Karen Bass. Following the storm’s arrival to the area on Sunday, Bass updated her constituents on the state of the storm during a Monday morning press conference.
In the wake of the storm, Los Angeles city and county officials are starting to clean up the damage. At the time of the presser, the storm was expected to dissipate by noon Monday.
Los Angeles schools are expected to resume regular days starting Tuesday after a going to remote-learning only on Monday. Los Angeles officials cited the lingering impact from the COVID-19 pandemic as part of the reason for this focus on remote learning, noting that “our kids are still performing in reading and mathematics about six to seven years below their grade level as a result of school shutdowns.”
Additionally, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday there will be 13 grab-and-go food distribution sites throughout LA. Because 80% of Los Angeles’ student body lives at or below the poverty line, this is to ensure no child will go hungry.
On Sunday, Metro homeless outreach teams assisted 158 people experiencing homelessness in finding shelter for the evening.
As the cyclone approached Southern California, the National Hurricane Center in Miami downgraded the storm from a hurricane to a tropical storm and finally to a post-tropical storm. Post-tropical cyclones are even weaker than tropical storms but still bring with them heavy winds and rainfall.
Over the weekend, Southern California residents also experienced an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.1. No significant damage has been reported from the quake.
This doesn’t mean Los Angeles residents are completely in the clear. On Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for parts of Southern California due to flash floods. Several records for daily rainfall were already broken on Sunday due to the impact of the storm.
To date, there has been one casualty from tropical storm Hilary. On Saturday, a person drowned in the Mexican town of Santa Rosalia.
