Hurricane Simon battered Mexico’s Pacific coast as a Category 3 storm Sunday, its eye staying just offshore while powerful winds and torrential rain struck communities squeezed between the Sierra Madre mountains and the ocean.
The storm’s center tracked parallel to the coastline toward the Puerto Vallarta area, where its strongest winds and heaviest rain were expected around midnight and into Monday morning.
Simon’s maximum sustained winds eased to 120 mph Sunday, the US National Hurricane Center in Miami reported. Despite the slight weakening, forecasters said the hurricane remained dangerous.
The warning was especially concerning for Puerto Vallarta, a popular tourist destination in Jalisco. Beyond the resort areas, many residents live in communities just inland and uphill where homes may not withstand the storm’s force.
By Sunday afternoon, Simon’s eye was moving northwest at about 5 mph, roughly 45 miles south of Cabo Corrientes.
Philippe Papin, a senior hurricane center specialist, said the westernmost tip of mainland Mexico faced the greatest likelihood of a direct hit. Cabo Corrientes sits at the southern end of Bahia de Banderas, the broad bay opening to the Pacific from Puerto Vallarta.
Forecasters powerful winds will sweep from Mexico’s western coast to the Sierra Madre
Hurricane-force winds extended as far as 15 miles from Simon’s center, while tropical-storm-force winds reached up to 60 miles. That put the entire stretch between Mexico’s western coastline and the Sierra Madre mountains at risk.
“We’re expecting catastrophic wind and life-threatening storm surge impacts along that west-central coast of Mexico where the hurricane warning is currently in effect,” Papin said. He added that intense rainfall could trigger deadly flooding and mudslides in higher-elevation areas along the coast, while producing significant swells.
The hurricane center said Sunday that Simon could bring another 2 to 4 inches of rain to Colima, Jalisco, Nayarit and Sinaloa through early Thursday, with some locations receiving as much as 8 inches.
“Isolated maximum storm totals of 30 inches are possible over portions of the states of Michoacan, Colima, and Jalisco,” the center said in its latest advisory. Such rainfall could cause life-threatening flooding and mudslides, or worsen ongoing flooding, particularly in steep terrain.
Mexico’s president urges residents to stay sheltered
As Simon drew closer to Puerto Vallarta, National Guard vehicles patrolled the streets. Police used megaphones to tell the few joggers, dog walkers and cyclists along the waterfront that the area was closed and urged them to seek shelter.
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Still, some people ignored the orders.
Jalisco suspended classes Friday and Monday in 22 coastal municipalities and began evacuating residents from vulnerable areas. Officials also directed the tourism industry to ensure that workers and visitors were accommodated in shelters or other safe locations.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum urged people in Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit and Michoacan on Sunday to remain in shelters until authorities announced that the danger had passed. She also called on residents to follow civil protection guidance and avoid traveling on public roads.
“Precautionary evacuation efforts to safe zones are ongoing; the priority is our safety,” she wrote.
Hotel worker says residents learned from major hurricane in 2002
Víctor Martínez, a hotel worker, went out Sunday afternoon to buy nonperishable food. He said he was unable to report to work because public transportation had been suspended and most of his hotel had been evacuated.
Martínez said he found the public’s concern about the hurricane reassuring.
“It happened to us before. It hit us years ago,” Martínez said, recalling a Category 5 hurricane that struck the area in 2002. “People didn’t expect it. We were very skeptical that it would ever hit us. Now, though, we’re different. Precautions are being taken. It happened to us once, and we won’t let it happen again.”
Even with Simon posing a serious threat, tourists continued arriving in Puerto Vallarta.
Ricardo Ramírez and Brenda Villarreal, visitors who had never experienced a hurricane, went searching for food near the city’s boardwalk. There, they encountered police urging people to take shelter. Ramírez said they had been completely unprepared for the situation.
“The boardwalk is closed. Be responsible. Understand!” police told passersby using a megaphone.
Ramírez said he and Villarreal had planned their four-day vacation since last year and traveled from Guadalajara, Jalisco’s capital.
“We don’t know the extent of the danger yet,” Villarreal said. “We’re just starting to see what’s going on.”
