MLS postpones Galaxy and LAFC games because of Hurricane Hilary

With Hurricane Hilary threatening to pound Southern California with rain and high winds this weekend, MLS is postponing Sunday night games at Dignity Health Sports Park and BMO Stadium, the league confirmed to The Times.

The Galaxy were scheduled to host Real Salt Lake at 7:30 in Carson, but the Utah team said Friday morning it would not make the trip. That game will be made up Oct. 14.

The Galaxy, eliminated in the group stage of the Leagues Cup tournament, haven’t played in three weeks. Their next game is Aug. 26 at home against the Chicago Fire.

LAFC, meanwhile, was scheduled to play the Colorado Rapids in downtown L.A., also at 7:30, but that game will now be played Wednesday night.

Read more: Dodgers and Angels to play doubleheaders Saturday to avoid Hurricane Hilary

The National Hurricane Center issued its first-ever tropical storm watch for Southern California on Friday morning as Hilary, rated a Category 4 hurricane, was moving north along the Baja California coast. It is projected to reach Southern California by late Sunday, about the time both MLS games were scheduled to kick off. Forecasters expect the storm to remain a hurricane as it approaches Baja on Saturday night and into Sunday morning, but it likely will be downgraded to a tropical storm by Sunday afternoon.

Nevertheless, it is expected to bring “life-threatening” rainfall — as much as a year’s worth of rain in hours — in parts of California, Arizona and Nevada, leading to a risk of flash floods from the Baja peninsula into southern Nevada and the Southland over the next few days. The center of the storm is expected to reach the Los Angeles area Sunday. A tropical storm has not made landfall in the area since 1939.

A high-risk warning for excessive rainfall has been issued for much of inland Southern California — from the San Bernardino mountains through the Coachella Valley and down into the Anza Borrego desert — noting the high probability for flash flooding Sunday and Monday.

Read more: Full coverage of Hilary

Sunday’s postponements mark the second rainouts for both the Galaxy and LAFC. The Southern California rivals were scheduled to open the season at the Rose Bowl on Feb. 24, but that game was pushed back to July 4 when heavy rains made the parking lots around the stadium unusable.

The approaching storm also led Pepperdine to move its women’s soccer match with Michigan from Sunday to Saturday at 3 p.m., while UCLA’s women, the reigning national champions, will meet Portland at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, 4½ hours earlier than scheduled.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.