At least two people have died in Mexico as Hurricane Simon and the remnants of former tropical storm Rachel brought heavy rain and severe flooding to communities along the Pacific coast. Officials have warned that the toll from both storms could rise.
At a news briefing on Monday, Guerrero Governor Evelyn Salgado confirmed that a 71-year-old man had died during Hurricane Simon. A retaining wall collapsed under the weight of the rainfall and fell on him. Local news agency IRZA said the man, whom his family identified as Albino Moreno Jimenez, had been feeding his animals on the western edge of Chilpancingo when the wall gave way.
Deaths and missing people reported in Baja California
A second death was announced later on Monday in Baja California, on Mexico’s western coast. Governor Marina del Pilar said a young girl had died from the effects of what was once Hurricane Rachel. The storm peaked in early October as a Category 3 system.
According to the governor, at least 10 more people are missing in the state. Eight were reported missing in Ensenada, a city on the Pacific coast, and two in the fishing town of San Felipe on the Gulf of California.
The figures are preliminary. The newspaper La Jornada reported a higher toll of two deaths and 11 missing in Baja California. Rachel made landfall in the Mexican state as a post-tropical cyclone, and its remnants have moved north through southern California in the United States.
Hurricane Simon weakens but warnings remain in place
Hurricane Simon has been churning off Mexico’s coast since the weekend. By late Monday morning it had weakened from a powerful Category 4 storm to a Category 2. The US National Hurricane Center said its maximum sustained winds had eased slightly to around 155 km/h (100 mph).
The centre of the storm was about 115 km west-southwest of Cabo Corrientes, a cape in the state of Jalisco, and was drifting west at 3 km/h. Forecasters said Simon could make landfall on Thursday or Friday. Hurricane warnings remain in effect for western Mexico, where the storm has raised the risk of landslides and dangerous surf.
Officials have urged residents to take care amid the damage caused by fallen trees, strong winds and floodwaters.
Cliff diver’s death in Mazatlan under review
Spanish newspaper El Pais reported the death of a cliff diver, Juan Patines, who was killed in Mazatlan, in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, after jumping into the sea on Saturday night. Mexican media said heavy surf prevented him from returning to shore amid dangerous coastal conditions linked to Hurricane Simon.
Local authorities later halted cliff diving at the site because of hazardous sea conditions. Officials have not yet confirmed whether his death was directly connected to the hurricane.
A record Pacific storm season and Hawaii’s losses
Rachel and Simon are part of an unusually active stretch of hurricanes across the Pacific. The northeastern and central Pacific has experienced a record storm season this year, fuelled in part by the El Nino weather phenomenon, which warms waters in parts of the region. So far, 21 named storms have been recorded in the Pacific.
On Sunday, Simon pushed the region to a historic high for accumulated cyclone energy (ACE), a measure of the combined strength and duration of tropical storms. This year has already surpassed the previous record set in 2018.
The US island state of Hawaii has also been badly hit. In August, Hurricane Lala caused ruinous flooding on the Big Island as a Category 1 storm. It killed a 93-year-old woman and destroyed some 100 homes, according to state officials. A few weeks later, Hurricane Lowell, a Category 4 storm at its peak, struck Kauai and Niihau, where winds, storm surge and flooding overwhelmed towns and roads. Officials said roughly 90 percent of Kauai’s power customers lost electricity, and at least two deaths were linked to Lowell.
In late September, Hurricane Nolo brought further flooding and landslides to the islands, although it did not make landfall.
