Tropical Storm Hilary Arrives in LA, Downs a Few Power Lines, Causes a Few Traffic Accidents. #LARain

8/20: The rain began to fall in my Westside neighborhood at 9:15 or so Sunday morning. It looked and felt a lot like, well, rain. Los Angeles County does get 14 inches of rain a year, most of it in the winter and not in August.

I did see a video of floods in Mexico where the Category One storm came to shore. The tropical storm is expected to lose power and wind speed as it moves further north into Southern California. But on Twitter (now X), people pilloried Hilary and those who exaggerated her importance.

"Omg.... 🤣 Mainstream Media VS Reality," tweeted Wall Street Apes, along with video of San Diego residents at the beach today ignoring the storm. "Hurricane Hilary Hitting Southern California Residents.... The media is the laughing stock of the world!"

Today's rain was expected to total just two inches in most of Los Angeles today, with the mountains being the exception. Catalina Island was evacuated as a precaution. In Baja, one death was attributed to the storm. Some streets were said to be flooded.

This is not to say that the storm failed to cause flooding 100 miles or more East of Los Angeles. Hurricane Hilary caused heavy rainfall in Las Vegas, where the streets were flooded and the gambling went on. Vegas is 260 miles from LA.

Ok, so I'll end this article with a quote from an actual expert, Dr. Levi Cowan, PhD in Meteorology from Florida State University. Naturally, he has a view opposite of mine:

"Tropical Storm #Hilary is now ashore over the Baja Peninsula, and rain continues to spread northward ahead of it over the southwestern U.S. The National Weather Service expects potentially life-threatening flooding and landslides over a wide area, primarily in southern #California and #Nevada. Be smart and safe if you're located in an at-risk area. Strong wind gusts as high as 60-70mph are also forecast in SoCal beginning later today, especially at higher elevations."