'Hurriquake' in Southern California as Earthquake Strikes During Tropical Storm
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Residents of southern California coined a new term on Sunday after an earthquake occurred during a tropical cyclone: the Hurriquake. However, in the US, neither the storm nor the quake have claimed any lives.
For Americans, natural disasters tend to be separated by geography: those who contend with wildfires and earthquakes rarely have to deal with hurricanes, and both are separated by a wide span of plains known as “tornado alley.” However, due to a rare weather event, folks along California’s southwestern coast got to experience a little bit of both on Sunday.
“During a hurricane this is great,” one social media user said on Sunday, posting a screenshot from their smartphone of an emergency alert about an earthquake sent out by the US Geological Survey (USGS).
The 5.1-magnitude quake struck on Sunday afternoon northwest of Los Angeles. While it and its weak aftershocks didn’t cause much damage, they definitely turned up the anxiety over the drama unfolding across the region at the time. Locals quickly coined the term “Hurriquake” for the event.
As other social media users highlighted, the earthquake warning came on their phones amid other warnings about flash flooding triggered by Tropical Storm Hilary, which pummeled the area after making landfall on Mexico’s Baja California region and weakening from hurricane-strength.
The arid region, which only receives inches of rain per year, has been subjected to torrential downpours for hours that overwhelmed drainage systems and triggered mudslides.
Palm Springs and others parts of Southern California faced the threat of flash flooding along with landslides and mudslides today after storm Hilary unleashed record-breaking downpours overnight.
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) August 21, 2023
This is a massive debris flow in Palm Springspic.twitter.com/W2SAvzBBXu
Videos posted on social media showed the extent of the flooding, including shocking images of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ baseball stadium inundated by rainwater.
Dodger Stadium is an island. pic.twitter.com/g2mQrKzgS3
— Don Van Natta Jr. (@DVNJr) August 21, 2023
So now I know what these are for. I’ve seen them in films but empty with cars racing in them. “Forever learning,” one user quipped, showing footage of the concrete spillway built for the Los Angeles River full of gushing water.
So now I know what these are for 🙈 I’ve seen them in films but empty with cars racing in them.
— Volcaholic 🌋 (@volcaholic1) August 20, 2023
Forever learning 😇
Video clip from AXN News on YT#Hilary #flooding pic.twitter.com/jptiH79yS6
In Arizona, where a prolonged drought has brought water in area reservoirs to perilously low levels, one local quipped that the downpours were refilling essential basins like Lake Powell. Video showed water streaming over the cliffs and into the basin from all sides.
Tropical storm Hilary is replenishing Lake Mead and Lake Powell.
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) August 21, 2023
pic.twitter.com/Zjw4gZKTCx
"Right now we have flooding on all of our roads. There's no way in or out of Palm Springs, and that's the case for the majority of the Coachella Valley. We're all stuck," Palm Springs Mayor Grace Garner told US media, adding that the city’s 911 emergency system had been disabled by the storm.
Hilary’s arrival was forecasted for days, since the storm was a powerful Category 4 hurricane loitering off Mexico’s Pacific coast. US President Joe Biden’s administration worked with the governors of California, Nevada, and Arizona to position aid personnel and supplies ahead of Hilary’s arrival, he said.
Los Angeles schools remained closed on Monday as more than 57,000 people in the area are without power.
The last time a tropical cyclone hit California was in 1939, with catastrophic results. Most Pacific storms travel westward out to sea, not up the coast or on an eastward trajectory.
Having become extratropical after striking land, the remnants of Hilary have continued to move northward, dumping rain in the mountains of California, Nevada, and Oregon, where it is expected to cause similar problems.
