California prepares for floods from hurricane

Hurricane Hilary is expected to bring with it potentially "catastrophic" flooding, as residents prepare for heavy rain, high winds and dangerous tides

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Hurricane Hilary headed for Mexico's Baja California on Saturday as the US National Hurricane Center predicted "catastrophic and life-threatening flooding" for the peninsula and for the southwestern United States, where it was forecast to cross the border as a tropical storm on Sunday.

Officials as far north as Los Angeles scrambled to get the homeless off the streets, set up shelters and prepare for evacuations.

Hilary is expected to plow into Mexico's Baja peninsula on Saturday night and then surge northward and enter the history books as the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years.

The US National Hurricane Center issued tropical storm and potential flood warnings for a wide swath of Southern California from the Pacific coast to interior mountains and deserts. Officials talked of evacuation plans for California's Catalina Island.