At least five people have died after Hurricane Simon and Tropical Storm Rachel struck Mexico's Pacific coast, bringing torrential rain, catastrophic flooding, downed trees, blocked roads and inundated homes.
Hurricane Simon claimed the life of a 71-year-old man in Chilpancingo, in the southern state of Guerrero. Guerrero Governor Evelyn Salgado confirmed the death at a press conference, saying the man died when a wall collapsed. According to local reports, the victim was identified as Albino Moreno Jimenez, who had been feeding his animals on the western outskirts of the city when the wall came down on him.
Simon also damaged infrastructure and homes in coastal towns across Guerrero, including the major seaport of Acapulco, the governor said.
Tropical Storm Rachel was blamed for the deaths of four members of one family, including two children, whose bodies were found on the outskirts of the city of Ensenada in Baja California, according to the state prosecutor's office.
Baja California Governor Marina del Pilar said at least 10 people remained missing in the state — eight in Ensenada and two in the fishing town of San Felipe on the Gulf of California. A separate report by local newspaper La Jornada cited a higher figure of 11 missing. Security forces used helicopters to rescue 32 people, while more than 50 others were being assisted in temporary shelters, officials said.
A cliff diver, identified as Juan Patines, was also reported killed in Mazatlan, in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, after jumping into the sea on Saturday night. According to Mexican media, heavy surf hampered his efforts to return to shore amid dangerous coastal conditions associated with Simon. Local authorities subsequently halted cliff-diving at the site. Officials have not yet confirmed whether his death was directly linked to the hurricane.
Rachel made landfall as a post-tropical cyclone, and its remnants moved north through southern California. Simon, meanwhile, did not make landfall and had weakened from a Category 4 storm to a Category 2 by late Monday, with maximum sustained winds of around 155 km/h. Its centre was located approximately 115 km west-southwest of Cabo Corrientes, a cape in the state of Jalisco, drifting westward at 3 km/h. Forecasters said Simon could still make landfall on Thursday or Friday. A rain alert remained in place.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami warned that heavy rainfall associated with Simon over west-central Mexico in the coming days could still produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides. Officials warned that waves of up to five metres remained expected in some coastal areas. Flooding and landslides had already struck communities near rivers and streams in the states of Michoacan and Colima.
Experts warned the death toll from both storms could rise, and officials urged residents to exercise caution.
The two storms have struck as part of an extraordinary stretch of hurricane activity across the Pacific. The northeastern and central Pacific Ocean has experienced a record storm season this year, with 21 named storms recorded so far. On Sunday, Simon pushed the region to a historic high for accumulated cyclone energy, a metric measuring the combined strength and longevity of tropical storms, surpassing the previous record set in 2018.
The season has been fuelled in part by the El Nino weather phenomenon, which causes warming waters across parts of the Pacific and drives global changes in winds and rainfall. Meteorologists say the current El Nino cycle is on course to be the biggest ever recorded. Scientists also believe that human-caused global heating is making El Nino events more intense.
Hawaii has been among the hardest-hit areas this season. In August, Hurricane Lala caused severe flooding on the Big Island as a Category 1 storm, killing one person and destroying around 100 homes. Weeks later, Hurricane Lowell, a Category 4 storm at its peak, struck the islands of Kauai and Niihau, knocking out power to roughly 90 percent of Kauai's customers and causing at least two deaths.
