This morning, rushing floodwaters,
shutting down major
roads, leaving no
way in or out
across much of Southern California.
Hillary is the first tropical storm
in more than 25 years to move
through the state.
Breaking all kinds of records.
Los Angeles
recorded its rainy summer day
and at least 150 years.
Palm Springs
got a full year's
worth of rain in 24 hours.
Its 911 system is still down.
There were mudslides
in the San Bernardino Mountains.
Look at that.
And now
the storm that did this is moving north.
CNN's Stephanie Elam
joins us from Cathedral City,
just east of Palm Springs.
Stephanie, what a muddy, icky mess
behind you.
I have a nice pun for you, John.
It's called the Meeting of the Mud.
Take a look.
You can see the
two different kinds of mud.
Believe it or not,
I'm standing on a road,
a major road
in and out of the Palm Springs area here.
This is what's going on.
They're starting to clean it up now
that the sun has come and come out.
But look,
there's two cars over here
that have been stuck since we were here.
In the darkness.
And now you can see how high that mud
is up on their wheels.
And then over to the right,
there's this little Volkswagen,
some very respectful,
thoughtful individual
just went flying through the mud
on the wrong side of the road
to get onto the side
and completely splashed
our photojournalist Mike Love,
who is now completely covered in mud.
But that's how far she got.
That's where she's ended up here.
These are the reasons why they're saying
schools are closed.
These are the reasons
why they're saying
people will not be able
to get in and around
and into Palm Springs
because out in the distance there,
I just walked all the way up there.
That would be towards Interstate ten.
There are Mack Trucks.
There are cars
twisted off
to the side of the road up there.
It's completely blocked right now
with vehicles and mud and running water
that is still finding its way
off the road.
And down off into the wash.
All of their washes are full.
When you look at this, now that
the sun has come up,
it's almost unbelievable
how much of a mess is out here.
And when you put your foot
into some of this mud,
they just came through and plowed here.
So it's not as sticky.
But, you know,
a couple of times
I thought I was going to lose my boot
because it's so sticky.
And that is what's trapping
these cars out here.
And think about it,
they were doing this in the darkness.
And you can see up there
what the mess it has left behind.
I sent in some video to show you
of just how bad it is out here.
It's unbelievable
now that the sun is up here, John.
It really is gross.
And we saw that front end loader
working behind you.
I've seen snow plows.
I'm not sure I've ever seen
mud plows before.
That was like mud plowing. Step
Also mud plowing in August.
Just think about that.
This was the rainiest
they have ever had in one day
in Palm Springs.
For 100 years of records.
And it's very odd to have that much rain
in Southern California,
let alone in August.
All right,
Stephanie Elam, keep your boots on.
My advice.
Duct tape works wonders if you need it.
Thank you very much for your reporting.
You would know.
Let's get the latest now
from Cathedral City, actually, right
where Stephanie Elam is reporting.
Cathedral City's fire chief,
Michael Contreras is joining us now.
Chief, thanks so much for coming in.
Stephanie Elam from where she is,
as the sun is coming
up, she's seeing
just the muddy mess
that is all over
some of the streets there.
What are your crews?
What are your crews seeing
out there right now?
Yeah, we're right in the
middle of that right now.
We're in all areas around that,
that muddy area
and that intersection right there
that had a combination
of what we call a debris flow.
So a large amount of mud and sand
moving into that area,
which is what trapped the cars there.
We were able to
extricate and rescue seven people there.
So now we're going house to house
and making sure
that the
people that want to get out can get out.
We've just called in a dozer or bulldozer
and they're going to go and clear
those neighborhoods
so that those people can get out
because right now
they're trapped for all intents
and purposes.
Talk to me about that
because the mayor of Palm Springs,
which is,
you know, near nearest
by saying that they don't even have
access in
and out of Palm Springs,
is completely blocked right now.
What?
How would you describe the situation
as the water
as the storm itself has moved past
what is now left behind
that you're seeing in Cathedral City?
Yeah, there's a lot of destruction.
Right. And Mother Nature
clearly put her mark on us
over the last 48 hours.
And that's
what you're seeing with that mud.
And it's a combination of mud and sand
that makes it really hard to get through.
The water, for the most part,
has dissipated.
It's drained off.
It's moved out into the drains.
But what we're really dealing with
is that excess mud
that is a lot like quicksand.
It's real heavy
and takes a lot of effort.
So if you're elderly
or you know you're a young person,
it's really hard to get through that.
And so that's
that's our main focus right
now is to clear the roads.
Right now,
we have the I-10 freeway,
which is the main thoroughfare
through both Palm Springs
and Cathedral City.
Our off ramps are on.
Both theirs and ours are limited
because of the mud.
So it's really about clearing the roads
and getting access
and then assisting Caltrans
with getting the
the I-10 open in both directions.
Absolutely.
And Chief,
we we had seen reports that the 911
phone lines were down in your city.
Is that still the case? What's happening
No.
You know, what happened
there is there was no 911 calls missed
there.
There was with the carrier.
They had an issue with flooding.
But, you know, we prepare for this
all the time, both fire and police.
And we were able to transition.
And we sent that out
and we moved those lines
over to what we call the business lines.
It's a different number,
but it still comes through
the 9 million system.
So, again, we were prepared for it.
But we do routinely.
Yeah.
I mean, that's good to hear you.
You had mentioned that you think
folks are
essentially trapped
because of this mud, sand mixture, mess
that's left behind.
I mean, what's your best advice
for people right now?
You've got crews out.
People are going to need some
need rescued today.
But what's your best advice for folks
yeah.
Right now, if
they don't need anything,
if they don't have.
Well, let me back up.
It's the same thing that we told people
coming into the storm, right?
If you don't need to be on the road
don't leave your house,
get the supplies you need
and stay warm in your house.
That's kind of the same thing
we're saying now.
If you don't need to get out, let's
give us some time.
We'll get
the tractors, we'll get the manpower
and we'll clear the streets.
And then that way
it'll be in a lot more organized fashion.
What our biggest concern is
that our people are still out there,
both from all city departments,
from public works
to facilities
the building department
that may have to read tags and buildings.
And when we're out there doing our job
and people are in a hurry,
it puts us at risk.
So you know, if they can just stay home
and give us a little time
and then we'll go from there.
Chief,
thanks so much for jumping
on this morning.
Really appreciate your time.
This is brand new video out of San Diego.
The city
facing such an inundation of water.
It was shooting out of manholes
at one point.
CNN's Mike Blair is in San Diego
with the latest
Mike, there's a wild to see
how much water was shooting
out of the manholes there.
But what have you been seeing
and hearing this morning as the
sun's coming up
Yeah, you know, Kate,
that picture,
those images certainly are crazy.
But I think that we are all feeling
a sense of shared relief in San Diego
and the coastal communities
up and down the Pacific coast
that we seem to have been spared
from the brunt of the disaster,
the brunt of the damage
that is really belonging
to the desert communities
about 90 miles
to our north and east Palm Springs,
the Coachella Valley,
even farther north towards
Death Valley and the Nevada border.
I think also what civic
authorities are telling us,
they are
saying that they have
that sense of relief
because of the capricious whims
of the track that this storm took
and B, the sense of preparation
that muscle memory
from the atmospheric rivers
that we had earlier
this year,
and that is due
to all of the extra personnel.
There were not one,
but ten water
rescue teams
positioned up and down the San Diego
River from Mission
Bay, close to SeaWorld,
all the way up to Interstate
five, the five,
making sure that everybody was okay
rescuing nine people overnight Kate.
So I think that just San Diego County,
for example,
getting a whopping 30,000 people
to sign up for their emergency
alert systems,
texting people
when something would go wrong,
when roads would be flooded.
There is a shared sense
that this is the new normal.
We've got to get used
to this kind of weather.
And people
are certainly rising to the occasion
here. Kate, Michaela in San Diego for us.
Thank you, Mike.