Florida resident here. Rode out more than one hurricane. Please take this storm seriously. Do not dismiss it with "eh, it's only a tropical storm." You have different problems:
One, You're about to get a very big storm in a very big DESERT where the water does not soak in; it just floods.
Two, most homes and buildings in Florida are built to a strict code where the framing is reinforced with metal clamps at the joints (I've seen this.) You Do Not Have This In California. That's why even "just a tropical storm," that Florida would hardly notice, can still do a lot of damage to YOU.
*If your Southern California home/apartment is up to earthquake code, with extra straps and clamps, you may be in luck. Might want to check to be sure.
Before the storm (like right now:) If no garage is available, park your car well out in the open and far away from trees. (My friend's car survived a Category 5 because he left it in the middle of a big parking lot.) Trees are deadly in these storms. Keep everything away from them as much as possible.
Your fridge is just a big insulated cooler box and food will stay good in there for a while with minimal door opening. Right now, fill up some water bottles 3/4 full and freeze them. They'll help to keep things cold in the fridge and you can drink the water if/when they melt.
Fill up your bathtub with clean water. You can use some for drinking if need be, but mostly it's so you can flush your toilet should the water be shut off. No electricity = no power to the pumps at the water main station.
As much light as you can get. Batteries, small solar-powered lamps, whatever. A generator is great but you can use those things if you don't have one.
Get work gloves because you'll be moving debris afterwards.
Have some books to read or something else to do to pass the time (board games, cards, etc.)
During the storm: First and foremost: STAY AWAY FROM THE BEACHES. DO NOT GO THERE TO WATCH THE STORM, EVEN FROM INSIDE A BUILDING. The storm surge is by far the most dangerous part of a hurricane/tropical storm. The water will recede, due to the force of the winds and the low barometric pressure, and then come rushing back all at once. Even a small surge will drag you far out to sea. A bigger one can wipe a whole town off the map.
This may be "just a tropical storm," but remember: It's hitting the desert areas and the desert floor is just like concrete. The water doesn't soak into the soil; it just collects and creates huge floods. That's why desert towns and cities maintain gigantic washes (gullies) that are dry 99% of the time but flood hugely whenever there is a big storm anywhere near. Flooding is a real danger with this "only a tropical storm."
Ride it out in the interior of your house/apartment. Stay well away from windows. These storms can spawn tornadoes and you will have no way of knowing if one is near or is forming up over your head.
After it's over:
Check on your neighbors and see who is still there and who might need help. I saw that there were a lot of single women and elderly people who did not evac ahead of the storm or immediately after. The men got themselves and their families out, while single women and the elderly had no one to help them and nowhere to go so they stayed put.
Set your phone to "text only" to save the battery. Communicate with people well outside the storm zone who can get you good info on what's going on. You will be in something of a blackout and the rumours will fly. Verify everything!
Clear out as much debris as you can from roads, parking lots, your front door, etc. The way needs to be clear for any emergency responders to get through.
Be careful of who's wandering around afterwards. Looters love to move in right after a storm and see what they can get.
I will ask the mods if we can have a dedicated Hurricane Hildawg thread to answer questions for anyone who is there and can get through. As I said, you will need information from those on the outside so you know what's really going on.
Good luck. Bring it, Hildawg! We're ready for you.
Mississippi here! One thing nobody is talking about is the surge. It will destroy las poorest neighborhoods. When flooding comes those people will have nowhere else to go. So many of those neighborhoods are at sea level and just 1 ft of surge would destroy almost every home that is not in the mountains. It will be a disaster and they will blame climate change. Will this be the storm they use to enforce the climate lockdown? Can you imagine the calamity of a hood as big as la and the reaction that will come from the people? New Orleans was bad but la has millions more poor people that will be homeless overnight. Storm surge is the problem. Mud slides. They gonna find out just how great their Democrat president is.
How can this be? Didn’t Biden run on stopping climate change?
The surge, absolutely. That's why I put "Stay away from the beaches" in the headline. I did mention the storm surge about halfway down the post, but it was a long one.
The storm surge can and does wipe entire towns off the map. LIke this one in 2018, where thirty people died because they tried to ride out the storm there: https://www.wtvy.com/2021/04/18/hurricane-micahel-storm-surge-catastrophic-for-mexico-beach/
You don't have to have a Cat 5 to do this. Even a smaller surge can cause extreme damage. And if you're standing out there on the beach to watch the storm, there is no time to run. It will grab you and then you're gone.
So don't try to watch the storm from anywhere near the beach.
Minimal surge on the west coast; the continental shelf is too narrow to build up a significant surge. Perhaps a few feet at most, which wouldn't amount to much out there since the beaches there experience occasional winter storms with huge waves and some surge.
Most of LA is shielded from surges since there are 40-100 foot cliffs that line the beaches. Orange County and San Diego have some of this, but are mostly at sea level or even built on sandbars (like Newport Beach and Long Beach) or even built in marshes (like Huntington Beach and Seal Beach).
The bigger threat has and always will be... flash floods coursing down from the mountains and onto the drought cracked natural flood plains most towns and cities. One of the purposes of the Hoover Dam was to control the annual flooding on these plains. AND, mudslides. Mudslides continue to be devastating to communities in the hills and base of SoCal mountains, as well as roads.
During the El Nino of the 80s, for those that are old enough to recall that... basically 6 months of heavy rains and storms, SoCal survived the mudslides, surges, flash floods, flooded streets, and inconveniences. They will survive this... there will just be a lot more whining and finger pointing.
Sounds like some knowledge insight. Just wondering if there is some sauce you can point us towards to learn more about this conclusion you have drawn. My history with you give me reason to believe you are aware of such things, though I am hoping for some papers/data that can be looked over so we can become better educated on the physics/geography of it.
Thanks for your input.
True about the larger population NOLA to LA.