Imperial Beach could be in for a tough weekend as Hurricane Hilary moves north.
The sprawling storm is flexing as it moves toward the Baja California Peninsula. Windy conditions and rain are already being reported in Mexico.
National Weather Service forecasters said the storm track is holding steady in their computer models, meaning the eye of the storm could find San Diego late Sunday or early Monday.
City workers in Imperial Beach did what they normally do when a storm is coming. They filled sandbags for residents behind city hall, something typically done in the winter.
“We’ve gone through storms before and we always plan for the worst-case scenario hoping that that doesn’t happen,” said John French, the Imperial Beach fire chief. “But for this storm we’re looking at, hopefully by the time it gets to us it’s either a tropical storm or less.”
Forecasters said the storm’s punch could be moderated if it moves over colder ocean waters or if it makes landfall before getting to San Diego. But the county will get windy, rainy conditions even if the hurricane weakens before Sunday night.
The only other hurricane to hit San Diego made landfall in 1858.
Imperial Beach residents are not only at risk from the storm’s wind and rain. Storm surge and waves along the coast will test armaments designed to protect homes.
And there is the matter of sewage.
“Every single time we have more than a quarter of an inch of rain. We have the (Tijuana) river start to flow,” said Paloma Aguirre the mayor of Imperial Beach. “All of the city of Tijuana’s sewage infrastructure starts to collapse. And for us it’s just an additional source of harm to our community.”
Untreated sewage and storm runoff from the Mexican city is expected to overwhelm capture-and-containment facilities on the United States side of the border.
Federal officials said that might mean some of the flows are diverted into the ocean without treatment.
“It’s an emergency situation for us so we really have no choice,” said Morgan Rogers, the regional director for the International Boundary and Water Commission.
The international wastewater treatment plant located just north of the border has already been overtaxed and it needs about $150 million in maintenance to bring it back to peak-operating condition.
“We don’t want to compromise the integrity of the plant later on,” Rogers said. “If we take this flow it’s going to cost a lot of damage. I think in the long run we’d be worse off.”
It has been a long summer of polluted water in Imperial Beach.
The ocean near the IB Pier has been off limits for recreation every day this year.
And the beach near the border has been posted as polluted for more than 600 consecutive days.
Sewage tainted water has flowed across the border nearly every day this year and a broken Mexican sewage plant south of Tijuana has helped keep the ocean dirty.
