The Palm Springs mudslides caused by Tropical Storm Hilary derailed a freight train and shut down a haulage route between LA and Las Vegas, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Exclusive DailyMail.com photos show crews desperately attempting to right the carriages attached to a locomotive operated by Union Pacific on Monday night.
Two excavators were among the mass of equipment brought to the scene which was under an overpass close to the I-10 freeway – itself closed both ways for most of the day, cutting the ritzy California city off from the rest of the world.
The photos also show the damage to the carriages – all of which were buckled by the weight of the mud and covered in tree branches and other debris.
Cleanup crews desperately attempted to right the carriages from a derailed train in Palm Springs, California on Monday, 21 August, 2023
The severe weather disconnected a locomotive operated by Union Pacific
Two excavators were among the mass of equipment brought to the scene which was under an overpass close to the I-10 freeway
Palm Springs, a glamorous California enclave adored by celebrities, was battered by Tropical Storm Hilary on Sunday and suffered widespread flooding – much of it along the normally dry Whitewater River.
The area is home to crooner Barry Manilow and Orange is the New Black actress Taryn Manning, while Kris Kardashian and Leonardo DiCaprio own vacation homes in the city.
It is also famous for the Coachella festival – a glitzy music festival staged each year at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
DailyMail.com was able to access the city on Monday afternoon – just hours after the tropical storm swept through the area, dumping more than three inches of rain.
Palm Springs usually gets an average of four inches of rain per year.
On Monday morning, Major Grace Garner described the situation in the desert city as ‘extreme’. She said: ‘There’s no way in or out of Palm Springs and that’s the case for the majority of the Coachella Valley.
‘We’re all stuck. Our major freeway, I-10, is also closed in both directions. This is a very extreme situation at the moment.’
California and Nevada officials have been left scrambling after the storm swept through, which is forecast to stretch as far as Idaho in the coming days
The train derailment in Palm Springs came as California Governor Gavin Newsom said the city endured 'the most significant rainfall over a 60-minute period any time' in its history
Thousands of emergency responders have been deployed to the widespread damage across California and Nevada
The crash occurred under an overpass close to the I-10 freeway – which was itself closed both ways for most of the day due to the torrential weather front
On Sunday, as Hilary battered the city, California Governor Gavin Newsom said it had seen ‘the most significant rainfall over a 60-minute period any time in the history of Palm Springs’.
Elsewhere in Palm Springs, cars could still be seen stuck in the mud while diggers were brought in by city officials to clear mud blocking major roads.
In nearby Cathedral City, a golf course and a country club were flooded while a assisted living facility had to be evacuated using JCBs following mudslides.
The Palm Desert community of Spanish Walk also suffered flooding, as did the Canyon Mobile Home Community in Cathedral City.
Council member Nancy Ross, who lives in the area, said: ‘Some homes have pretty serious devastation.
‘Their floors are buckling up and they have ruined appliances and their electricity won’t turn on.’
She added: ‘This is as new to the city as it is to us as individuals. It’s been 89 years since we had anything significant like this and we’re just going to have to figure it out one hour at a time.’
In an aerial view, a Jeep remains stuck in mud off a road that was hit by a flash flood in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Hilary on Monday
A toppled tree from the tropical storm covers a car in Los Angeles on Monday, Aug. 21, 2023. Images have begun to make the full extent of the storm's damage clear
Cars are entirely submerged beside palm trees blowing in the wind i Southern California as Hilary took its toll over the weekend
An aerial shot shows the enormous amount of mud and sludge that has accrued in parts of Southern California as a result of Tropical Storm Hilary
The I-10 has now reopened while much of the city has already dried out – among them some of the flooded communities.
Elsewhere in California, San Bernardino County was also particularly hard hit – with a fire station in the city of Forest Falls submerged by a mudslide.
The state has seen record levels of rainfall with mountain and desert areas bearing the brunt of the storm.
Forecasters said that 'virtually all' of the daily rainfall records in the area had been broken due to Tropical Storm Hilary.
The records were broken as of 3am Monday, according to NWS of Los Angeles. At UCLA's campus in Beverly Hills, 4.26 inches of rainfall were recorded.
Lake Palmdale - located northeast of Los Angeles - nearly six inches over the two-day period when the storm hit.
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