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Photos: Clean up is underway after tropical Storm Hilary arrives in Southern California

A man flings mud from a shovel as he and another person work to free a stuck car.
Justin Duran helps dig out a car stuck in the mud as residents of Horizon Road in Cathedral City, Calif., clean up days after Tropical Storm Hilary flooded their community.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
By Gina Ferazzi
, Genaro Molina, Dania Maxwell, Francine Orr  and Robert Gauthier

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After days of urgent warnings, Tropical Storm Hilary made landfall in Baja California on Sunday, turning roads into rivers and imperiling homes before barreling north toward Southern California. By 6 p.m., the Southland was seeing flooding, downed trees, road closures and high winds. Forecasters with the National Weather Service in Las Vegas said conditions were continuing to deteriorate across parts of Southern California and western Nevada, especially the mountains and deserts. They said life-threatening, catastrophic flooding remained a possibility.

Scenes of the aftermath of flooding from Tropical Storm Hilary as crews and residents
Scenes of the aftermath of flooding from Tropical Storm Hilary as crews and residents dig out from mud as deep as four feet. A home on Horizon Rd, right, and Avenida Primavera, left, suffered different fates from the storm.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Residents from a senior living facility are held by firefighters in a front loader while being
Residents from a senior living facility are held by firefighters on Monday while being brought to safety after the Affinity Senior Living was inundated with flood waters from Tropical Storm Hilary in Cathedral City, Calif.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
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With storm clouds looming overhead, Bernadette Duran of San Gabriel carries sandbags to protect her vacation home.
With storm clouds looming overhead, Bernadette Duran of San Gabriel carries sandbags to protect her vacation home from predicted flooding in Palm Springs.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
A person on a board holds onto a rope connected to the back of a bicycle that another person is riding
Keagan Abing is pulled by Jake on a watery stretch of Seal Beach on Sunday.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
People walk across a street in the rain
Residents cross 70th Avenue in Thermal, Calif., as Tropical Storm Hilary dumps torrential rain on Sunday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
A man sits in a chair under a white big rig while it rains
A resident in Thermal, Calif., takes shelter from Tropical Storm Hilary.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
A person hold onto a walker on a wet sidewalk
Robert Nevill walks slowly from the store to his assisted living residence in Yucaipa, Calif., on Aug. 20, 2023. He got caught in the rain.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
A person in red shirt and blue overalls, her feet wrapped in white plastic, approaches a street while carrying a red package
Nannie Auclair navigates wet conditions after buying beer at a neighborhood market in Thermal, Calif., on Aug. 20, 2023.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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A person in a dark hooded jacket holds the leash of her dog, covered by a pink raincoat, while standing on a flooded street
Hillary Tucker, 34, and her dog Oakley make their way through a flooded street in L.A.’s Valley Village neighborhood on Aug. 20, 2023.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
A man stands in floodwaters next to a blue car
A driver calls for help after his car stalled on Avenue 48 in Coachella, Calif., on Aug. 20, 2023.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Two men hold a long-handled tools while standing in swirling muddy waters
Sergio Lopez, center, steers a large wooden plank to help Carlos Gutierrez, right, divert the floodwaters on Avenue 70 in Thermal, Calif.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The headlights of a vehicle illuminate a flooded street
A truck struggles to get through a flooded section of Venice Boulevard in Culver City on Aug. 20, 2023.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Like Sisyphus, Cal Fire firefighters push boulders in the mud - away from a truck in Oak Glen.
Like Sisyphus, Cal Fire firefighters push boulders in the mud away from a truck in Oak Glen, Calif.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
A man waits for help in the back of his stuck car on the flooded Avenida La Vista in Cathedral City, California.
Dorian Padilla sits in his car as he waits for a tow after it got stuck in the mud on a street in Cathedral City, Calif.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Gina Ferazzi

Gina Ferazzi has been a staff photographer with the Los Angeles Times since 1994. Her photos are a part of the staff Pulitzer Prizes for breaking news in 2016 for the San Bernardino terrorist attack and for the wildfires in 2004. Her video documentaries include stories on black tar heroin, health clinics, women priests and Marine suicide. Raised in Longmeadow, Mass., she was a two-sport scholarship athlete at the University of Maine, Orono.

Genaro Molina

Genaro Molina is an award-winning staff photographer for the Los Angeles Times. He has worked in journalism for more than 35 years starting at the San Francisco Chronicle. Molina has photographed the life and death of Pope John Paul II, the tragedy of AIDS in Africa, the impact of Hurricane Katrina, and Cuba after Castro. His work has appeared in nine books and his photographs have been exhibited extensively including at the Smithsonian Institute and the Annenberg Space for Photography. He was part of the team that was a finalist for the 2026 Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Photography.

Dania Maxwell

Dania Maxwell is a former Los Angeles Times staff photographer. Before joining the newsroom in 2018, she worked in Colombia, South America and at the Naples Daily News in Florida. Her work has been awarded an Emmy, POYi, Sigma Delta Chi and Edward R. Murrow. Maxwell received a master’s degree in visual communication from Ohio University and a bachelor of arts from Sarah Lawrence College.

Francine Orr

Francine Orr was a staff photojournalist for the Los Angeles Times from 2000-24. She is currently a Knight fellow at the Graduate School of Visual Communication at Ohio University. Previously, she was a staff photographer at the Kansas City Star. Orr served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Yap, Federated States of Micronesia. While there, she learned how to be a quiet observer and gained a love for stories. She was raised in Colorado and earned bachelor’s degrees in both history and art from the University of Saint Mary. In 2022, Orr received the coveted Dart Award for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma and the National Headliner Award. She also won the 2020 Meyer “Mike” Berger and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in feature photography in 2012.

Robert Gauthier

Robert Gauthier has been with the Los Angeles Times since 1994. He was the photographer for a project detailing the failings of an L.A. public hospital that won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for public service and was part of the team that was a finalist for the 2026 Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Photography. Before The Times, Gauthier worked at the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Escondido Times-Advocate and the Bernardo News in San Diego County, his hometown.

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