While labeled as a record-breaking Category 4 hurricane, Hilary slowly faded into a tropical storm by the time it reached Southern California on Aug. 20.
Hilary came to life on the coast of Mexico, with high-speed winds, flooding and heavy rainfall. Many residents were left with varying levels of inconvenience, but no deaths were reported, according to a Times of San Diego article.
The hurricane was the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years, according to Fox 5 News.
According to an article by the San Diego Tribune, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) reported that approximately 39,000 residents did not have power, but within an hour it was restored.
While the destruction of trees, roads and buildings was significant, the city was able to escape utter disaster.
Gissel Lopez, San Diego resident and undergrad journalism student at Azusa Pacific University said when the hurricane hit, she and her family were camping in Jamul, Calif.
“There was intense rain, a hurricane warning, and super intense fog,” Lopez said.
Lopez said that a family friend even got a tornado warning and was told to shelter in their basements.
“The issue with that is that no one in San Diego has a basement,” she said. “When we arrived home, our home was fine and had some rain but not enough to do damage.”
San Jose State alumni and Los Angeles resident Noelia Gamboa said the news of the hurricane left her feeling unsure about how her city would be affected.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect or how to react to the situation given that there hasn’t been a hurricane in the LA area for over 80-plus years,” Gamboa said.
After experiencing Hilary, Gamboa said that it was not as bad as many news sources were claiming it to be.
“In my neighborhood we didn’t experience anything too catastrophic,” she said. “Minor flooding and some tree branches fell, things that typically happen when there’s rainstorms.”
LA resident Inaiya Giles, graduated from SJSU at the end of the 2023 spring semester.
She said that the hurricane was expected to be deadly and destructive, yet this was not at all the case in her city.
“Honestly the hurricane was not that bad, it really was just a tropical storm,” Giles said. “I believe that many people were so busy trying to over prepare themselves that they did not watch the news.”
Giles also said that there are more crucial issues for San Jose to focus on rather than the hurricane, since it was not as detrimental as reported.
“I feel as though we have bigger issues to worry about up here in San Jose like earthquakes and fires,” she said. “It definitely is not a good feeling to know that back home in places like San Diego is flooding but I do not think major damage is being done.”
San Jose has quite a high earthquake risk, as there have been 5,180 earthquakes in San Jose since 1931, reported in the United States Geological Survey (USGS) database.
In the San Jose Fire Incidents data set (2015 to present), there have been 1,000-1,200 fires per year.
Alexa Romero, San Diego resident and junior at Helix Charter High School, said Hilary did not feel too impactful since she didn’t personally experience overly flooded roads or hard rain.
“It honestly seemed just like any other day during the fall or winter season,” she said. “It would look gloomy and be sprinkling outside and the weather temperature would remain really hot, but that was it.”
