Sen. Ted Cruz 'Holy Crap,' Shark Swims L.A. Streets ... Falls For Hurricane Hoax

Sen. Ted Cruz fell victim to a seemingly obvious social media hoax during Hurricane Hilary ... because he truly believed there was a shark swimming through Los Angeles' flooded streets.

The U.S. Senator from Texas quote tweeted an image of a shark cruising through what seemed like a flooded L.A. freeway, and added his own technical assessment ... "Holy crap."

Well, good ol' Ted took the bait, hook, line, and sinker ... he'd reposted a Tweet from Barstool's Dan Katz, who claimed the shark photo was taken by a friend of his driving along L.A.'s 405 freeway.

Problem is ... the image is actually edited, and it's popped up a bunch over the past decade, usually when hurricanes hit the U.S. -- with the initial posting coming back in 2011 when Hurricane Irene slammed Puerto Rico.

Ted spends a lot of time on Elon Musk's app and the shark post went viral Sunday as the storm was dumping tons of water on California, but Ted somehow missed the community note giving context.

Interestingly, the shark photo also went viral during hurricanes in Ted's home state.

Ultimately, Ted realized he had been duped ... though he seemingly explained his thought process by saying, "In LA, you never know ..."

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Yeah, it was a cheap shot at liberal L.A., but he might have a point ... considering an earthquake struck at the same time as Hilary.

Hurricane Hilary Buries Dodger Stadium In Water

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IT'S A WET ONE
Twitter / @DodgerAerial

No baseball was played at Dodger Stadium on Sunday due to Hurricane Hilary ... but a swimming meet coulda broken out -- 'cause the epic storm nearly flooded the historic venue.

As the squall made landfall in Southern California, it pelted Los Angeles with so much rain, it left L.A.'s ballpark covered in water.

Footage shot from up above the downtown stadium shows the parking lot surrounding the site was underneath feet of water ... though, thankfully, it appeared the diamond and its surrounding seats survived the inclement weather.

Of course, the Dodgers moved their Sunday afternoon game against the Marlins to Saturday ... so there were no issues with the team's schedule -- though it's unclear if the effects of the weather will impact L.A.'s next slate of games at Dodger Stadium next week.

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As for Hilary, it's still bombarding the southwestern U.S. with rainfall ... causing major flooding on roadways and severe damage to buildings elsewhere.

Fortunately, however, the storm is set to let up later Monday.

Los Angeles Hurricane Hilary Levels-Up With a DAMN Earthquake!!!

Mother Nature has a bone to pick with Los Angeles, not only sending Hurricane Hilary to the city of angels ... but hitting its residents with an earthquake at the SAME DAMN TIME.

That's right, just as Angelinos were trapped inside, watching their favorite Netflix shows, surfing social media or deciding where to order some Uber Eats, a 5.1 magnitude quake, centered in Ojai rocked the city.

Luckily, at the time of this post, there doesn't seem to have been any significant damage ... but the whole thing's gotta be scary nonetheless as rain continues to come down.

Most West Coast folks also got a firsthand taste of the earthquake warning system on their phones when an alert was blasted out reading, "Earthquake Detected! Drop, Cover, Hold On. Protect Yourself."

The National Weather Service has been using push notifications for the storm since it hit L.A. early Sunday morning. Just 2 hours before the earthquake alert went out, residents' phones blew up with a warning for flash floods in several areas.

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For those unaware, Hilary, which has been downgraded to a tropical storm, made landfall in Mexico, while the neighbors to the north are getting rained down ... officials say it could be the most devastating storm to hit the state in years.

Safe to say, SoCal dwellers have a lot on their plates at the moment ... and the earthquake was the wet and rainy icing on top!!!

DoorDash Hurricane Hilary Suspends Deliveries

DoorDash customers in L.A. who didn't stock up on groceries before Hurricane Hilary are gonna have to find a new way to eat ... 'cause the company's suspended deliveries.

DoorDash says it's activated its "Severe Weather Protocol," putting a temporary pause on operations in places like Los Angeles County, San Diego, Palm Springs, and Barstow as the storm continues to pass through southern California.

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The food delivery halt went into effect at 3:45 PM Sunday, and the company says it's expected to resume work at 11 AM on Monday, depending on how the weather's looking.

People jumping on the app might end up a little hangry -- a popup message is now appearing, explaining the interruption, and all the restaurants are only listed as "pickup" options.

In other words, go get your own damn food!

Hurricane Hilary Flooding in Baja, 1 Death ... Headed for Cali

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FLOODING IN BAJA

Hurricane Hilary has already proved deadly ... triggering massive floods in Baja, Mexico and claiming at least one life.

The storm hit in the town of Santa Rosalia and clearly packed an enormous punch, flooding streets and damaging or destroying property in its path.

You could feel the intensity from comments on social media .. "Holy sh** 👀 #HurricaneHilary Baja California, Mexico. I hope everyone’s okay."

The good news ... Hilary seems to be losing its intensity ... it's currently a category 1 hurricane but by the time it hits Cali later Sunday it will be downgraded to a category 4 storm -- still intense, but not a hurricane.

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There's still a tropical storm warning for millions of folks in SoCal, and there's fear it will cause flash flooding, as well as landslides.

There are some areas of California that will get more rain in 24 hours than they usually get in a year. Palm Springs is particularly problematic.

There's also an alert for Catalina Island ... 26 miles off the coast of Los Angeles.

It's a weather event Cali hasn't seen in more than 80 years.