Kay is weakening, but the storm is not expected to move away from the coast until Saturday night. Before then, it is expected to bring flash flooding to parts of southern California and southwestern Arizona on Friday, according to the National Hurricane Center. Flood watches went into effect Thursday night for southern California and parts of Arizona, covering 8 million people.

From severe drought to floods and stormy watches

The Imperial Valley region, home to one of the nation’s most productive agricultural zones, is bracing for severe damage. All of Imperial County is in severe drought, according to the US Drought Monitor, and has been since early spring — but the rain they lost immediately won’t help the recovery. “Imperial Valley farmers are in the middle of preparing their fields for planting season, so a half inch to an inch of rain will cause damage and delays to their schedule,” said Robert Schettler, spokesman for the Imperial Irrigation District. See how much water the area could see: Imperial County Airport receives an average of 2.38 inches of rain each year. The National Weather Service is predicting 2 to 4 inches over a 36-hour period Friday and Saturday. If Imperial receives more than 3 inches of rain, it will make this month the wettest September on record. The previous wettest September was 1976. In Palm Springs, which typically sees 4.61 inches of rain annually, 2 to 4 inches is forecast. Three inches in Palm Springs would tie this month for the three wettest Septembers for the city, where the average September rainfall is 0.24 inches. And Yuma, Arizona, could see 1.5 inches — which would make 2022 the wettest September since 2009. The city’s average September rainfall is 0.68 inches. However, it is not only water that worries the officials. “We have high wind advisories, flash flood watches and extreme heat advisories in effect that will expire soon,” National Weather Service meteorologist Alex Tardy for San Diego said in a virtual update Thursday night. “Wind and rain continue and will be significant Friday afternoon, into Friday night and early Saturday morning.” The city’s weather service said it expects “strong, damaging, easterly winds” for much of Friday. and west of the mountains. Those warm, dry winds from the east will likely increase the already high fire danger in the region — amid the ongoing heat wave that is baking much of California. Strong winds are expected to reach states as far north as Oregon, prompting the National Weather Service in Portland to tweet that “a red flag warning … will be in effect this FRIDAY & SATURDAY due to expected strong easterly winds and low humidity These conditions can cause the fire to spread rapidly.” Wind gusts in the area are expected to range from 25 to 50 mph, according to a tweet from the weather service in Portland.
Utilities Pacific Power and Portland General Electric have announced they may preemptively shut off power to some high-risk areas to reduce the risk of fire. The outage will take place “in a limited high-risk area to help reduce the risk of fire and help protect people, property and the environment,” Portland General Electric said in a statement. The utility says the move could affect about 30,000 customer meters in the Portland and Salem, Oregon area. Pacific Power issued a similar statement and said about 12,000 customers in Linn, Douglas, Lincoln, Tillamook, Marion and Polk counties have been notified of the potential outages.

The governor has declared a state of emergency due to wildfires

With triple-digit temperatures likely to continue across much of California on Friday, new all-time records are expected to be broken. Weather officials in Los Angeles reported a temperature of 97 degrees at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday — surpassing its previous record for the date of Sept. 8, set in 1984. The city of Paso Robles also broke its record for that date. , with 108 points. The previous record of 106 was set last year. Dangerously high heat and gusting winds are not helping firefighters battling the blaze that has already charred thousands of acres. California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday declared a three-county state of emergency because of two wildfires. In Riverside County, the Fairview Fire has already burned more than 18,650 acres and was 5 percent contained as of Thursday night, according to Cal Fire. Two people were killed, one person was injured and at least 12 structures were damaged, officials said. The Mosquito Fire, which is also burning in El Dorado and Placer counties, has charred more than 6,800 acres and was 0 percent contained as of Thursday night, according to Cal Fire. Evacuation orders have been issued for parts of Placer County and some El Dorado County residents have been warned to prepare for the possibility of evacuation, officials said. The fire, which threatens more than 1,000 structures, has shown “extreme fire behavior and growth.” Thursday and is burning in “extremely difficult terrain,” according to Cal Fire. CNN’s Stephanie Elam, Taylor Ward, Ella Nilsen and Paradise Afshar contributed to this report.