In parts of southern California that have been severely drought-stricken for months, residents are bracing for a storm that could drop a year’s worth of rain — and cause dangerous flash floods. The extreme weather is forecast as Tropical Storm Kay moves northward after making landfall in Mexico as a Category 1 hurricane Thursday afternoon. Kay was downgraded to a tropical storm Thursday evening, but was still packing winds of 70 mph with even stronger wind gusts. Those powerful, damaging winds are threatening to push already high temperatures across California even higher, extending a brutal heat wave that’s fueled raging wildfires, strained the state’s energy grid and prompted officials to urge residents to conserve energy use in the hopes of avoiding rolling power outages.

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• The Conversation: Intense heat waves and flooding are battering electricity and water systems, as America’s aging infrastructure sags under the pressure of climate change