Hilary will produce 'really significant impacts' in California, FEMA administrator warns

As the federal government prepares its response to the tropical storm expected to hit parts of Southern California on Sunday afternoon, FEMA is bracing for potentially devastating flooding.

“Hurricane Hilary is going to produce some really significant impacts to Southern California,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said Sunday during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Though the total amount of rain appears unlikely to exceed that of similar storms that more frequently make landfall on the East Coast, people should not downplay this threat, Criswell said.

“People really need to take this storm in California serious,” she said on ABC’s “This Week.” “I think it's interesting that the total rain amounts aren't like what we see in some of our Atlantic storms and Gulf storms, but it's going to really be potentially devastating for them in these desert areas. “

The emergency management agency already has a team embedded in California, and is moving additional resources into the state, Criswell said, as the storm moves north toward Mexico and the southwest United States, where it’s expected to cause “catastrophic” flooding.

“They're a very capable state as well and they have a lot of resources,” Criswell said of California Sunday. But if it does exceed what their capability is, “we're going to have additional search-and-rescue teams, commodities on hand to be able to go in and support anything that they might ask for.”

The storm is the latest in a series of natural disasters and extreme weather that left communities in need of federal assistance. Wildfires in Hawaii recently raged across a historic Maui town, leaving more than 100 dead and even more without shelter. President Joe Biden will visit Lahaina on Monday to see the devastation first-hand and “reassure” residents “that the federal government is there,” Criswell said.

The severe weather events across the country are exacerbated by one another, Criswell said, creating the catastrophic results different from what the country experienced a decade ago.

“Threats we're seeing today are very different than what we saw five to 10 years ago, right? They are more intense, they are more complex,” she said on CBS in discussing the impact of global warning.

She added: "We are working very hard with all of our local and state officials, to better anticipate and understand what the risk landscape is going to look like, what types of mitigation measures they can put in place to help reduce the impacts of these risks, and help communities with their preparedness plans and help individuals make sure they understand what the risks are going to be."