You from the nbc news center here in los angeles. Welcome everyone to alex witt reports. We begin with the Breaking News, Tropical Storm hilary has begun lashing the pacific coast. Live pictures from san diego in the direct path of the storm we are heavy rain is beginning to fall in parts of california, and now under a State Of Emergency. Moving to las vegas, preparations for the orders are underway there. Storm drains are being tested, and potential for historic flooding there. Heavy rain could reach up to ten inches in some areas hit by the storms. So the impact could be catastrophic. The next two days will be crucial. Will hilary move north through california today and then into Northern Nevada by monday morning. A short time ago, the category one hurricane was downgraded to a Tropical Storm. But it is the first to hit california since 1939. Officials are warning, take this seriously. There would be Power Outages, make no mistake. There will be Power Outages across Southern Californ
dramatic-looking. i want to remind everybody that this is actually how it is supposed to work here in las vegas. this is the link hotel. it is the parking garage, which unfortunately has the bad luck of being the main input for storm waters. and they then pass from where i am standing down into this vast storm drain. all of this, this torrential water you see going, it is passing through here into that storm drain so that it stays off of the las vegas strip. all of this would be there on the vegas strip if it weren t for the engineering that has been put in place here. in fact, in 2012, and before that in 1999, we saw a couple of inches absolutely devastate the las vegas strip. that is the thing that is really important for those of you who live in extremely rainy conditions. you know that a couple of inches shouldn t be any big deal. the thing is, in a place like this, las vegas is at the
the rain expected to intensify all day into tomorrow, with predictions of catastrophic flooding in parts of california, nevada, and arizona. the storms i is expected to reach san diego in just a few hours. some evacuations are already in place near l.a., and then in nevada the governor is urging people to not travel today. most places will get 2 to 6 inches of rain, but some areas could get a torrential ten inches through tomorrow. that is more than a year s worth in two days. at this hour, hillary is a tropical storm with winds nearly 70 miles an hour. it is picking up speed, alerts are in place as far north in fact as idaho. joining me from one of the cities in the storm s path right now, nbc s chief jake ward in las vegas. let s talk about what is happening. what is going on behind you? what have you seen so far? we saw some storm drain footage, and it looked like they were working properly, thankfully. that s right, alex. the preparations underway here, i m going to show, you a