San Diego under rare tropical storm watch with Rachel set to bring coastal flooding, heavy rain and strong winds
By Andrew Freedman, Chris Dolce, CNN
(CNN) — San Diego is under a tropical storm watch for only the second time on record as Tropical Storm Rachel is forecast to make landfall in Mexico’s northern Baja California Peninsula early Sunday morning, bringing coastal flooding, high winds and inland flash flooding from Southern California to the Desert Southwest.
A Level 3 of 4 threat of flooding rainfall has been issued for Saturday night through Sunday from parts of Southern California to southern Nevada, southwest Utah and northwest Arizona, including San Diego and Las Vegas. This means numerous flash flood events are expected, with significant impacts possible.
San Diego and Las Vegas could see an inch or more of rainfall from this storm. That is about double the rainfall they usually see in all of October in San Diego, and triple that in Las Vegas. This raises the likelihood for flash flooding in desert areas, which cannot rapidly absorb intense bursts of rainfall.
Peak wind gusts in and around San Diego are expected early Sunday morning, and will most likely range from 25 to 40 mph in lower elevations to 50 to 70 mph in the mountains. Stronger gusts are possible if Rachel takes a more northerly track or they could trend weaker if Rachel shifts farther south, according to the National Weather Service.
The only other time that San Diego was under a tropical storm watch was for Hurricane Hilary in 2023, the first year that such forecast alerts began to be issued for this region.
There were infrequent and tropical weather systems that affected Southern California before 2023, according to the NWS forecast office in San Diego, but they did not trigger such watches or warnings.
Wind gusts between 45 to 55 mph are expected inland across the Desert Southwest in parts of Arizona, southern Nevada and Utah on Sunday.
Coastal flooding is a significant concern with Rachel, particularly in areas that have already been damaged by high waves and unusually high tides in recent months. Southern California’s coastline is expected to see coastal flooding as Rachel’s waves move toward the coast on top of pre-existing high-water levels.
This could flood roads and damage structures along the coast, especially around times of high tide both Saturday and Sunday. The morning high tide is between 9 to 10 a.m. PT and the evening one peaks around 10 p.m. PT.
A coastal flood warning is in effect from the Malibu coast and Los Angeles County beaches to coastal San Diego County until Sunday afternoon.
According to the National Hurricane Center, “life-threatening surf and rip current conditions” are likely along the coasts of Southern California and northern Baja California.
Coastal water levels have already been running unusually high in California due in part to the near-record strong super El Niño event in the tropical Pacific, which results in higher-than-average water levels and coastal flooding along the West Coast. In some areas, homes have already been lost to the sea. Waves from powerful offshore hurricanes in the eastern Pacific have worsened the coastal flooding situation in Southern California in particular.
“Major coastal flooding has already been occurring in some areas, with observed water levels running as much as 1.5 feet above predictions,” the Hurricane Center stated. The NHC warned that hazardous coastal conditions are expected to continue next week, even as Tropical Storm Rachel dissipates over the southwestern states.
The-CNN-Wire
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