SAN DIEGO — The Palomar Community College District is postponing the first day of fall semester due to Tropical Storm Hilary.

All Palomar College sites will be closed on Monday, Aug. 21, which was the originally scheduled start of the fall semester. All online and onsite classes will be cancelled, according to the district.

Palomar College campuses are expected to fully re-open on Tuesday, Aug. 22.

“Our district serves 2,500 square miles of northern San Diego County, including some of the most rural areas of our region,” said Dr. Star Rivera-Lacey, Superintendent and President of Palomar College. “Closing our main campus and education centers was not an easy decision, as our students and employees were looking forward to the first day of the fall semester.”

Given that many Palomar College students live in areas anticipated to be heavily impacted by the storm, district administrators opted for the delay to help alleviate vehicular traffic flow and allow emergency workers to address storm damage.

According to district officials, uncertainty of the impact from the storm on public transportation services was another consideration for administrators in the closure Monday.

Palomar Community College District has campuses in San Marcos, Escondido, Fallbrook and Rancho Bernardo.

Tropical Storm Hilary has been moving northward throughout Sunday, with the center of the storm entering Southern California by 5 p.m. The storm has brought strong winds and heavy rain, prompting flood warnings in certain mountain and desert communities.

As a response to the storm, other districts have opted to modify school school operations on Monday, including San Diego Unified, who cancelled their first day of school on Aug. 21.

San Diego State University and the university’s Imperial Valley campus will be transitioning to virtual instruction on Monday “out of an abundance of caution.” The university plans to return to normal in-person instruction and work on Tuesday.