A 5.1-magnitude earthquake hits Southern California, where Hurricane Hillary is passing through.
Hillary shakes California by threatening catastrophic rains and floods. The warning is skyrocketing in the state’s south, where the tropical storm has already caused more than a third of all flights to be canceled at San Diego Airport. Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency and deployed thousands of men to help in a country accustomed to drought, fires and earthquakes but not the expected heavy rain.
Alert is particularly high after the Maui disaster, where alert and assistance systems failed, resulting in more than 114 deaths and 1,000 missing.
Joe Biden is expected to arrive in Hawaii soon: the president, in the role of “consul general” (a play on words by the US media with the commander in chief), will touch up the damage caused by the fires that ravaged Lahaina. It’s a difficult visit for Biden, and it comes as pressure builds from activists in the White House to declare a climate emergency so he can act aggressively and quickly to mitigate environmental threats.
Biden has come under fire for his personal response to the Maui tragedy and what many consider the government’s disappointing response. The fire broke out while the President was on vacation and after an initial comment on August 10, the President remained eerily silent for five very long days. A surprising silence given that Biden is known for his empathy and concern, as well as his determination not to repeat the mistakes of his predecessors in the face of disasters (Katrina for George W. Bush, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico for Barack Obama. And the hurricane that struck Puerto Rico for Donald Trump). Personal criticism was exacerbated by government actions that seemed slow and ineffective with many witnesses who still today claim they did not see anyone from the federal government in Maui. The White House sought cover by publishing the president’s busy schedule of communications with authorities in Hawaii and Maui, and his immediate response to the emergency. But the criticism, especially from Republicans, did not stop.
As the administration grapples with Hawaii, the alert in California is at an all-time high in decades. In fact, Hillary arrives in an area that has suffered years of drought and fires and threatens to dump an entire year’s worth of rain in just 24 hours. “Flooding ranging from severe to catastrophic is expected,” is the warning released by local authorities, who are calling on residents to take the tropical storm seriously and follow orders, including evacuation orders already issued to some communities in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Supermarkets have swept Southern California, where finding water on the shelves is almost an impossible task. He begins to calculate Hillary’s passage through Mexico: On the Baja California peninsula, some areas are without electricity and without telephone communication. A prime number is set to rise in the coming days.
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