Video Shows Destroyed California Bridge After Hilary Flooding

Heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding caused by Tropical Storm Hilary has reportedly decimated a bridge in California and left people stranded.

Rescue efforts have taken place throughout the state as Hilary, formed early last Wednesday and intensified into a hurricane by Thursday morning. It then strengthened to a Category 4 early Friday morning, with sustained wind speeds at 140 miles per hour. Winds weakened before the storm hit Baja California as a Category 1 hurricane over the weekend. The storm has since weakened further into a tropical storm as it moved to inland California.

Rainfall strongly affected desert areas like Palm Springs and Death Valley National Park—the latter of which became flooded in some parts. Meanwhile, Lake Mead's water levels have also risen as a result, experiencing a .16-inch increase since late last week.

Reed Timmer, a storm chaser and AccuWeather meteorologist, reported from north of Banning, California, where a bridge connecting two sides over the 26.8-mile San Gorgonio River that primarily flows in western Riverside County was destroyed.

"This is the big flood that came through here," Timmer said. "It's normally a dry wash with a little bit of flow down usually related to snow melt. But this bridge over Mias Canyon was taken out by a significant flood that came down off the San Bernardino Mountains. In fact, just about every single canyon and wash flooded significantly."

People in Oak Glen, situated between the San Bernardino Mountains and the Little San Bernardino Mountains in San Bernardino County, who live in Potato Canyon remain trapped, Timmer added. Birch Creek and Mill Creek also have been inundated by excessive rainfall.

On Monday afternoon, he also posted a video of a drone survey on X, formerly Twitter, of the scene near Banning, as well as major traffic jams on the closed Interstate 10 near Palm Springs.

Newsweek reached out to Trimmer and AccuWeather via email for further comment.

A National Weather Service (NWS) forecaster from the San Diego office told Newsweek on Monday that Riverside County may get a reprieve compared to the past few days of inclement weather.

The area had light rain on Monday morning, partly in the Coachella Valley and San Bernardino Mountains. It wasn't impactful "but on top of everything they had already been experiencing, it certainly hasn't been helpful," the forecaster said.

The rest of the week is predicted to be dry, sans potential thunderstorms over the mountains on Thursday that could drift into portions of Coachella Valley.

Meanwhile, Mount San Jacinto, in the Riverside County mountains, received 11.7 inches of precipitation in a two-day period, according to the NWS.

"Roads covered in inches, sometimes FEET of mud in Cathedral City," posted NBC News reporter Chase Cain. "Some people can't leave their homes because the mud is knee deep National Guard is helping firefighters clear roads Everyone is asked to stay off the roads in the area!"

Cathedral City is a desert resort city in Riverside County located within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley.

Newsweek also reached out to public officials in Banning via email for any updates.