California will be hit by Hurricane Hilary in all likelihood as a tropical storm. This has not happened to an appreciable degree since the 1930s. Effects from this storm, beyond heavy rainfall, is unclear at this time, but let’s review potential impacts and preparatory measures.
 
Bottom line up front: What’s the danger? Minor inconveniences, like power outages.
 
A tropical storm has sustained wind (not gusts) of at least 39 miles per hour, this puts it in Beaufort Scale 7 High Wind or Near Gale. Whole trees move and the wind is strong enough to make walking difficult. Santa Ana wind gusts at this level causing minor inconveniences.
 
Weak trees and branches may be toppled or knocked down. Loose roofs or shingles may be damaged. Weak doors may be blown open if facing directly into the wind. Debris will be blown around. Aside from power outages, the major damage will probably just be messes. Stepping it up into the likely gust range, Beaufort Scale 9 or Gale, the wind blows at (46 - 53 mph). Trees are much more prone to damage. Weak fences, sheds, and roofing is at much higher risk for damage.
 
Now the major risk to most is power outages due to lines being blown/knocked down. At worst, virtually everyone will have at most three days without power, though most will get it back more quickly than that. Assuming that Hilary does blast SoCal and DWP, SoCal Edison, and PG&E are busy stringing power lines back up, your grocery store will be devoid of batteries on Monday.
 
My suggestion is to go out and buy batteries now. Get rechargeable Eneloop batteries (buy the charger too). They don’t suffer the same problems as old NiCad batteries and by recharging these things you’ll save a ton of money. There is also the obvious application to SHTF preps by not having to store 100lbs of Duracells because your police scanner eats AAs like a fat person in the M&Ms factory.

Also get battery charging packs, commonly called power packs or portable phone chargers. These are just batteries with USB attachments that can charge your phone or other small electronics. These are good to have for rechargeable flashlights and other such appliances. Their small size may limit their utility to powering anything that isn’t handheld but their size is beneficial in that it doesn’t take much to charge them. They won’t overtax charging in a car and they work well with small, portable solar panels.
 

For larger items, like big radios, small TVs, or even some appliances like small refrigerated coolers, get the bigger power stations like Goal Zeros. These will need to be charged off the grid or a generator, but having one on standby for things like drunk-drive induced power outages or earthquakes is a great standby. You’ll never get one that can run your chest freezer for a weekend, but they are big enough to run fans, TVs, and surprisingly more appliances than you’d think, if you size correctly.

Whatever these portable power stations says they are, they are not “generators.” They do not generate electricity, they store it and release it later. These are battery packs. And you don’t need brand names, just one that’s well reviewed.
 
Many of these power stations can charge off of solar panels (sold by the same manufacturer or using third-party models). I recommend that they be purchased when a generator is bought so that you can get “free” stored energy while the generator is running your fridge, freezer, A/C or whatever. If it’s burning gas already, why not use some of the electrical output to be saved later when you turn it off? These power stations are also good buffers against brownouts or rolling outages.

For those who work from home or are doing critical stuff like storm tracking, where you need your computer and monitors (or radio and TV) to stay up constantly, get a UPS. A Uninterrupted Power Supply is a battery and surge protector, basically. It acts as a power supply where the battery is always charged off the mains electricity and your devices are powered off that battery. So, there is never a moment where everything goes dark and the computers have to play “catch up” as they reboot after suddenly shutting off. Usually more critical for avoiding lost work on old desktops, but it may help techie preppers. Remember, if the power goes out so will the Internet in most places.
 
For generators, see this thread on Twitter where I make some recommendations. Californians already can’t get some stuff here, and regulations will make the supply of generators tighter in 2024, then ban them entirely in 2028. Buy your generator now and don’t forget the extra gas cans.

Also buy gas. Fill up your cars early and keep them topped off. Fill up 10-20 gallons of extra gas just in case a refinery goes offline or some other weirdness happens. Buy the gas cans now. I doubt you’ll have any serious gasoline shortage, but having plenty in the garage is better than queuing up at Costco with 1000 of your neighbors. Get propane too (barbecue bombs and 1lb green bottles) if you use that.
 
Communications are important too. Cell phone towers are easily overwhelmed in emergencies. During the 2018 Woosley fire I lived near an evacuation center and there was zero cellular data available due to having so many people in a small area. Reception already sucked midtown too. If stuff gets crazy, it may be hard to make a call or send a text, let alone get information. In fact, after the main Internet cable coming into the county was destroyed/cut during the fire, we had only radio due to the lack of broadcast TV signal reception and the aforementioned cellular data problems.
 
You can get some Baofeng radios and use them in the gray area for FRS/GMRS communications, then keep them for when you get your ham license. Or, you can get some bubble pack FRS radios for short range (like in the neighborhood) comms. GMRS with better antennas can reach out further, like across a small city. I talk about that in my book Basic SHTF Radio, which is for people who have no clue about radio or where to start.
 
Finally, hit the grocery store. Go light on the perishables in case the power goes out, but have a week to two weeks of extra food that’s easy to cook. Have snacks and treats in case things get stressful. Focus on what’s easy to prepare and stores forever, like canned goods. Don’t be like the French toast people who riot over eggs, white bread, and milk.

Baofeng 4-pack FRS radios
Baofeng 2-pack GRMS radios
Frankly, I prefer the Woxun KG-805G as they are easier to use for most people than Baofengs and are only GMRS/FRS, perfect for the family. I replace the antennas on these, but they are great radios that my mutual assistance group uses for GMRS. Remember that FRS/GMRS can talk to each other!

Finally, hit the grocery store. Go light on the perishables in case the power goes out, but have a week to two weeks of extra food that’s easy to cook. Have snacks and treats in case things get stressful. Focus on what’s easy to prepare and stores forever, like canned goods. Don’t be like the French toast people who riot over eggs, white bread, and milk.
 
Food and supplies aren’t really a problem unless you live in an isolated area. Grocery shopping may be annoying but we all survived 2020, right? Well, some of us. But recall the grocery store that collapsed from too much snow on the roof in the mountains outside LA. Similar things might happen with wind or rain. Also, flash flooding may close off isolated areas or even destroy bridges across Interstates and highways in the desert.
 
Should you board up your windows? Probably not, but it depends on your location and the exact Weather Service forecast for winds. Might want to have some plastic sheeting and plywood lying around to patch anything, just in case, although this is probably applicable to only San Diego and Imperial Counties at this time. Areas inland from the coasts 10-20 miles usually don’t get the worst wind from East Coast hurricanes, or so I’m told.
 
So why the danger of death index is low on this story for most Californians, it could result in some annoying inconveniences. Order stuff now, have it shipped for the fastest delivery possible (Prime membership, FTW) or buy it locally. Time is running out.

I can highly recommend this book. Practical, useful phrases chosen with the insight from actual police officers/deputies. I actually took two classes from the author when he taught basic Spanish for bilingual certification for the Ventura County Sheriff's Department (as it was back then). Very good teacher, very good book.

A short review is you can basically open this up and read the relevant phrases if you need to, say at a felony stop. So if you need to learn specific law enforcement phrases or want to round out your rudimentary Spanish, get this book.