Historic tropical storm Hilary batters Southern California

Amid Southern California’s state of emergency due to its first tropical storm in 84 years, CSUN announced on Sunday that its facilities would be closed and summer exams would be rescheduled as a precautionary measure. The Student Recreation Center has also closed until August 26, according to a notification from the facility’s mobile app.

In an email, CSUN announced the closure to all students and faculty, notifying them about the exams.

“As an important update, and out of an abundance of caution, all in-person exams scheduled on Monday, August 21, 2023, will be administered online or rescheduled due to impact from Hurricane Hilary. Please contact your instructor if you have any questions,” CSUN stated.

The university has also announced that all in-person events will be rescheduled.

The tropical storm, caused by Hurricane Hilary, made landfall in Baja California on Sunday. It then worked its way up the coast, pummeling towns and cities with a year’s worth of rain, causing flash floods.

Heavy winds toppled trees and power lines, obstructed roads and caused power outages across the Southwest.

According to the National Weather Service, Northridge received four inches of rain as of 5 a.m. Monday. Other cities and towns received up to seven inches of rain.

Free sandbags were distributed from fire stations and emergency services across the Southwest for people to fortify their homes and businesses.

Power outages left many in the dark, with Southern California Edison reporting 129 outages as of 12 p.m. Monday, which impacted 14,856 customers across Southern California. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power also reports outages across the county.

A 5.1 magnitude earthquake also struck in the Los Angeles area, with its epicenter in Ojai. There was noticeable shaking for around a minute, but there were no reported injuries. Over a dozen subsequent aftershocks occurred. More details to come.