By Alberto Fajardo and Daniel Becerril
MANZANILLO, Mexico Oct 11 – Hurricane Simon weakened to a Category 3 storm on Sunday as it moved parallel to Mexico’s Pacific coast, bringing strong winds and heavy rain that flooded homes.
The storm, packing maximum sustained winds of 125 mph (205 kph), was located about 110 miles (175 km) west-northwest of the port city of Manzanillo at 6 p.m. (0000 GMT Monday), the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
“Additional weakening is forecast but Simon is still expected to be a strong hurricane as it passes near the coast of west-central Mexico tonight,” the forecaster’s advisory said.
Simon was moving northwest at 5 mph (7 kph) and was expected to move farther offshore on Monday before turning back toward Mexico’s coast on Wednesday, it added.
In Manzanillo, residents waded through flooded streets on Sunday morning as soldiers helped families remove water from their homes after the storm brought heavy rain overnight.
“The beds, the refrigerators, the stoves, all the furniture got wet. The whole house flooded,” Cecilia Palomar told Reuters outside her home.
“My mother doesn’t want to leave. We took her to my brother’s, to higher ground. She’s an elderly woman, but she doesn’t want to leave. She doesn’t want to be away from her home.”
Hurricane conditions were likely already occurring within the hurricane warning area and were expected to spread northward overnight, the NHC said.
Simon was forecast to bring an additional 2 to 4 inches (50 to 100 mm) of rain to parts of Colima, Jalisco, Nayarit and Sinaloa through early Thursday, with isolated areas receiving up to 8 inches more.
Total rainfall from the storm could reach 30 inches in parts of Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco, raising the risk of life-threatening flooding and mudslides, particularly in mountainous areas, the NHC said. Dangerous storm surge and destructive waves were also expected along parts of the coast.
Mexican authorities placed 28 municipalities across Jalisco and Colima under the highest cyclone alert level, while another 93 municipalities were under high alert, according to civil protection bulletins.
Puerto Vallarta International Airport temporarily closed, while authorities suspended non-essential activities and opened emergency shelters in threatened coastal communities.
Earlier on Sunday, President Claudia Sheinbaum urged residents of coastal communities in Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit and Michoacan to remain indoors as the storm, then a Category 4 hurricane, approached the coast.
On Saturday, residents in Manzanillo had appeared largely calm despite the approaching storm, with some businesses boarding up storefronts and civil protection personnel closing beaches and urging people to stay away from the shore.
The storm comes days after Hurricane Polo struck Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula as a Category 2 hurricane, knocking down trees and power poles and flooding streets.
(Reporting by Alberto Fajardo and Daniel Becerril in Manzanillo and Sarah Kinosian in Mexico City; Writing by Sarah Kinosian and Raul Cortes; Editing by Mark Porter and Stephen Coates)
