We have been watching this run off here that has been coming just roaring down this wash that goes into a golf course. A lot of rain in palm springs and In The Valley where we are getting a couple of inches of rain which equals about half of what this area gets in a year. Authorities have closed a lot of the roads that goes over these washes. They did that pre emptively before the storm rolled in. They have done some of that here over the last few hours as the floodwaters grew and you see the gusty wind and some of the heavy rain has stopped over the past few hours but now on the backside of the storm this is really starting to gust as hillary moves on to the north. We can see the wind picking up there and in terms of the people who are living there, jason, how accustomed are they to this . You mentioned this is about as much rain as they usually get in a whole year. How vulnerable is this community . They are not accustomed to this at all. This morning i was at a station where they were filling up sandbags and one man remarked i live in the desert. I am not supposed to be doing this. We found a lot of the preparations people were going for really came out of their fear of the unknown and not knowing what would happen. Many of them told us told us that they did not live in low lying areas but with a storm like this so unprecedented, something they had never seen before, they were taking those precautions anyway, not knowing if they might see floodwaters during this storm. This storm is coming in and weirdly on top of it all the region also experienced a at least 5. 0 magnitude earthquake as well. Walk us through those moments . Did you feel the ground start to shake . Here where we were we could not feel the ground. We are separated by a pretty good distance from the area where the epicentre was, and an entire mountain range. But it was significant as everyone started seeing the messages of people who did feel it. I thought we are going through something almost unprecedented with this Tropical Storm and now there is an earthquake and as far as we are aware at this point no extensive damage from the storm but we are not done with it yet or from the earthquake but it did leave a lot of people here wondering what is potentially next. Well, what does come next in terms of this storm . What are we expecting . Well, you mentioned that schools are closed tomorrow and a lot of that is to assess the damage and make sure especially that the roadways are clear and wanting to move anything out of the way before they put more people on the roads. I should emphasise that this is not over yet. There is more rain potentially on the way. There is more to the south and having covered Tropical Storms and hurricanes some of those rain bands can continue even as the storm moves away. Also double and in some cases triple the amount of rain has up fallen in mountain areas. That does take time to work its way down to the valleys. It goes out through these washes again so i know that firefighters and swift water rescue teams are saying they are on standby for the next several hours because they know this is not finished yet. Now lets focus on whats causing these conditions. Earlier, i spoke to jamie rhome, Deputy Director of the Us National Hurricane center. Thank you so much for being here to help us understand a bit more about this Tropical Storm, and california has declared a State Of Emergency. What makes Tropical Storm hilary so dangerous . You have the situation of a Tropical Storm moving into southern california. Much of the area has a soil that does not handle this much rainfall, let alone this much rainfall over a short period of time so when the rain falls On The Ground rather than the ground soaking it up it runs horizontally and creates flash floods. We are seeing, like you mentioned, this is taking aim at communities like palm springs. These are almost desert communities. How vulnerable do you think some of these cities and towns in the path of hilary are . Really quite vulnerable. We have got a high risk, which we dont issue that often, a high risk of flooding. A number of factors are coming together that really make us concerned. First and foremost we just talked about the Heavy Rain Striking the soil that cannot handle that kind of rain. Then you have mountains which enhance you get the mountain enhanced rainfall and in some places the heavy rainfall is occurring where previous fires have occurred. You get these burn scars because that makes it worse because it leaves behind a soil that is virtually like a pavement. Can you help us understand the unusual route this hurricane and now Tropical Storm has taken . As far as i understand normally these storms will veer off to the left and this one is going straight north. What is behind the strange path the storm is taking . Really, fast movement. There is a strong area of High Pressure in the United States which is allowing the system to accelerate north fast and that is what is helping it to sustain its strength even as it moves over these colder waters. Typically a storm would be moving slower and have more time to wind down but because this one is moving so fast, it is able to take the momentum into the south west of the United States. You have covered hurricanes a lot in your career. Have you seen anything like this before . We have seen similar to this. This is unusual but not unprecedented. In 1997, laura went injust a little bit to the east of where hilary is moving, so it is not completely out of the ordinary. It is just not something we would normally see every season or every ten years. Briefly, jamie, after california, what can we expect from this storm . How many other communities might this effect further north in nevada or other states . Yeah, it will move inland and race northwards over the inner Mountain West and produce areas of flooding as far north as idaho and this map i have behind me herejust shows you the wind swath of damaging winds that will occur as it moves inland, even if it drops below Tropical Storm strength. All right. We will be tracking that storm as it continues to move as well. Jamie rhome, Deputy Director of the National Hurricane centre, thank you very much. Thank you for having me. The canadian government is sending in soldiers to help battle more than 400 fast spreading wildfires in the Western Province of british columbia. Officials say two of the largest fires have now merged, destroying houses and other buildings. A State Of Emergency is in effect there as firefighters warn the next few days will be difficult. Heres wyre davies. Oh my god. There are more than 1,000 wild fires raging throughout canada. Desperate scenes in parts of the country, as homes and livelihoods are consumed by the advancing fire. There is particular concern in the Western Province of british columbia, where 30,000 residents have been ordered to leave their homes. Even more have been told to be ready to evacuate at any moment. The town of kelowna to the west of vancouver is being threatened by an advancing inferno, the nearby lake no barrier to fire, as strong winds carry embers across the water, setting fire to homes and buildings on the other side. Dont travel to the region is the advice from the local authorities. At this time, we are strongly recommending that people with plans to travel to fire affected areas throughout the central interior and southeast in the coming days, to cancel those plans. We need tourists and travellers to take this situation as seriously as the residents of these areas do. Further north, the town of yellowknife has been evacuated. 20,000 people leaving injust two days, a huge effort, and some spoke of the devastation they had driven through to escape. When we are driving, most of the high way site it is burned down, so all the trees are black. I think its the internet lines, the poles are down, and we still see smokes coming out. With more gusty winds forecast, towns across the region are still under threat. In a country well prepared for dealing with forest fires, resources are stretched to the limit. Specialist firefighters from overseas are arriving to help, and for those who cant move freely, the Canadian Air Force is airlifting people to safety. As officials urge residents in areas under threat to take immediate action to save their own lives, the canadian government said it was sending in the armed forces to help deal with the crisis. President Volodymyr Zelensky says he hopes more countries will follow denmark and the netherlands in giving F 16fighterjets to ukraine. I9 planes will come from the danes, starting around new year until 2025. The dutch are Still Deciding how many fighterjets to send out of a possible a2. Zelensky toured an airbase in denmark alongside the danish Prime Minister, mette frederiksen. The ukrainian leader also visited the netherlands. Kyiv has repeatedly urged its western allies to provide the us made aircraft. It has all come ahead of a meeting of the brics nations brazil, russia, india, china and south africa in johannesburg on tuesday. For more, i spoke with michael bociurkiw, a non resident senior fellow at the Atlantic CouncilsEurasia Center and Global Affairs analyst. Thanks forjoining us. We appreciate you being here, and, michael, want to start with the latest news, the f 16s being promised and president zelensky calling this historic. Could this be a shot in the arm of the ukraine and its counteroffensive . Yeah. It is a very big deal. It is something ukraine has been asking for for the longest time. The United States dragged its feet for quite some time because no country can send f 16s to ukraine without the permission of the us. The us thought this would be an escalatory move but they came around and having said that it is going to take a while to train the pilots to get these at sophisticated pieces of machinery over there, to integrate them in the so called military envelope. Some analysts are talking about these things being in the air perhaps next year sometime. And as we have seen, the counteroffensive on the ukrainian side is going a lot slower than expected and a big reason for that is the russians have had time to dig in, put in minefields and other added barriers as well so ukraine is looking at the end of the day for Air Superiority which russia has over them right now but it will take some time. And of course you are now in south africa ahead of this weeks brics summit. The war in ukraine likely to be on the agenda there. What are we expecting to hear about the conflict from a very Interesting Group of nations, obviously, when it comes to the war in ukraine, including russia itself . It is going to be fascinating to watch. The president of south africa mr ramaphosa gave a live speech just a few moments ago and he said that south africa, respects the sovereignty of nations and they also said that they are working to get those hundreds of children that were forcibly deported to russia back to ukraine. They are working on the exchange of pows so it seems there is a lot going on behind the scenes we did not know about previously and the other thing that affects most brics members in most countries here on the African Continent is getting the grain moving across the black sea from ukraine into a lot of countries here that desperately need it. The agreement is in tatters right now. As you know, russia has been relentlessly bombing ukraines Port Infrastructure that i am based in 0desa and also ports along the danube river, so a lot to get done and of course, President Putin will be sending his Foreign Minister instead but he will be here virtually and as mr ramaphosa put it he will be here in spirit so lets see what happens on that front. What do you make on the absence of Vladimir Putin and obviously there would have been a potential that he could have been arrested if he sets foot in south africa because he has a warrant out for his arrest in the International Criminal court. I think it shows two things number one that hes scared and the South African President said that his virtual attendance was by mutual agreement, whatever that means, but i dont think south africa wanted to be put in that position where they may have to arrest who is arguably still an ally, and the other thing it shows is that russia is becoming increasingly isolated. I mean, not to be here with one of their key partners, china and also, by the way, india Prime Minister modi will be here, brazil will be here thats a pretty big deal. So, itll be interesting to see how this is spun at home in russia by their pr machine but definitely it shows that he has to watch his step in order to avoid being arrested on that icc warrant. Around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. Do not adjust your set. You are not seeing double. This little fellow was born about a month ago with two heads and the odds of that i thought to be about one in 100,000. Of that i thought to be about one in 100,000. This belief to beain one in 100,000. This belief to begin with one in 100,000. This belief to begin with because one in 100,000. This belief to begin with because they one in 100,000. This belief to begin with because they are i begin with because they are rare. Ive had twins before. And weve even had Cyclops Snakes where they have one eye in the centre. But never had a 2 headed snake. It should have beenin 2 headed snake. It should have been in the egg to twins, basically, but they never split. Basically, but they never slit. ,. , ~ , split. 2headed snakes generally split. 2headed snakes generally dont split. 2headed snakes generally dont last split. 2headed snakes generally dont last for| split. 2headed snakes generally dont last for more than a few days. The trick is to get the meeting. Than a few days. The trick is to get the meeting. This little cu to get the meeting. This little au is to get the meeting. This little guy is actually to get the meeting. This little guy is actually feeding to get the meeting. This little guy is actually feeding really l guy is actually feeding really well so he has got a dominant head which is this side. And thats the one that we feed at the moment. But both heads drink. In the moment. But both heads drink. � u, the moment. But both heads drink. � u,. , drink. In america, 2headed snakes can drink. In america, 2headed snakes can sell drink. In america, 2headed snakes can sell for drink. In america, 2headed snakes can sell for vast drink. In america, 2headed| snakes can sell for vast sums of money but exeter exotic so they have no plans to sell this one. Youre live with bbc news. More than half the ballots have been counted in ecuador� s president ial election and left wing candidate Luisa Gonzalez has won the first round with just over 33 of the vote. She will face businessman Daniel Noboa Azin in a second round of voting in october. Security has taken centre stage in the poll after the murder of Anti Corruption candidate fernando villavicencio, gunned down while leaving a Campaign Event this month. Earlier, i spoke with our south america correspondent katy watson, whos in ecuador� s capital, quito. I began by asking her how the assassination shaped the campaign. It was just over a week left of campaigning when he was shot and it did upend the campaign somewhat and everyone was talking about, all the candidates, talking about security and peace and those with the priorities for them if they were to win power and thats exactly what ecuadorians wanted to hear. This is a country that used to be a safe country, relatively, you know, in the region. Its become in the last few years incredibly violent. Cartels from mexico and colombia have infiltrated local gangs and there has been a real impact on this country which suffered during the pandemic, it suffered from corrupt politics and unemployment and opportunities and many people have migrated north to the us so all of these issues when it comes down to it, you know, safety, security and a Better Future it, you know, safety, security and a betterfuture is it, you know, safety, security and a Better Future is what everybody here was campaigning about and, of course, ecuadorians just could not get that. Ecuadorians ust could not get that. ,. , ecuadorians ust could not get that. ,. , that. Given that backdrop, how crucial is this that. Given that backdrop, how crucial is this election that. Given that backdrop, how crucial is this election being. Crucial is this election being seenin crucial is this election being seen in ecuador . Its going to be a massive task for whoever eventually comes out on top . Thats right, and its a massive task because these elections were actually called early after the current president dissolved the National Assembly due to an Impeachment Vote he was shortly going to be facing, which means the person who is voted, it will probably go to second round and that is what people expect and it will be in october, and the person voted president will only have 18 months before there will be more president