SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – The sun's out, storm drains are dry and surf boards are coming out — that's until the remnants of Hurricane Hilary make their way north, possibly hitting San Diego.
"It's interesting. You don't hear that every day,” surfer Bill Frantz said of the potential hurricane approaching San Diego.
"Never makes landfall usually. It usually stays far out at sea,” surfer Michael Manzo added.
With the heavy rain in the weekend forecast, some like geologist Dr. Pat Abbott have concerns about how Hurricane Hilary can impact our bluffs on the coast.
"So, one storm doesn't worry me as much about the cliffs. It's more adding water, adding to the load, continuing to build up,” Abbott said. “So, we may have a collapse or two during a heavy rain. But it's ongoing. It's the weeks after that concern me the most as far as cliffs."
Abbott said even if Hilary misses San Diego, we still might get a lot of rain.
"And so that means the flooding. Now the last time we really go hit hard by one was 1976 with Tropical Storm Kathleen. That hit on the east side of the mountains, took out the railroad, took out Interstate 8 and all of those sorts of things,” Abbott said.
But last year, Tropical Storm Kay swept through San Diego. Abbott said the rain from that storm helped cool off another season — wildfire season — in our area.
"I hope that Hilary hits about like Kay did and for some water which we could use. We would also benefit by having a lessened wildfire season,” Abbott said.
