At least five people have died after Hurricane Simon and Tropical Storm Rachel hit Mexico’s Pacific coast, causing flooding that downed trees and utility poles, blocked roads and inundated homes.
Simon claimed the life of a 71-year-old man who died when a wall collapsed in Chilpancingo, in the southern state of Guerrero, Governor Evelyn Salgado said at a news conference.
The storm also damaged infrastructure and homes in the state’s coastal cities, including the main seaport of Acapulco, she added.
Tropical Storm Rachel is responsible for the deaths of four members of the same family, including two children, whose bodies were found on the outskirts of the city of Ensenada, Baja California, the state attorney’s office reported.
Five other people remain missing, while security forces used helicopters to rescue 32 people, prosecutors said. Baja Governor Marina del Pilar said authorities were helping more than 50 people in temporary shelters.
Simon did not make landfall and, after weakening to category two on the five-point Saffir-Simpson scale, was moving away from the coast, authorities said. A rain alert remains in place.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said heavy rain associated with Simon in west-central Mexico over the next few days could still cause life-threatening flooding and mudslides.
Authorities warned that waves up to five meters high were still expected in some coastal areas. Floods and landslides had already hit communities near rivers and streams in the states of Michoacan and Colima.
The El Niño phenomenon, characterized by a rise in water temperatures in the Pacific, is fueling more intense hurricanes in the region this season.
Meteorologists say the 2026-27 El Niño, which causes global changes in winds and precipitation as well as erratic weather patterns, is likely to be the strongest on record. Scientists now also believe that human-caused global warming is making El Niño more intense.
With Agence France-Presse and Associated Press
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