Hurricane Simon’s eye remains just off Mexico’s Pacific coast, but the Category 3 storm’s most powerful winds and rain slammed people living between the Sierra Madre and the ocean.
The hurricane’s center swirled parallel to the coast, closing in on the Puerto Vallarta area, where its most damaging winds and rain were expected to hit around midnight and continue through Monday morning. The storm has weakened throughout the day, with its maximum sustained wind speed decreasing by about 25 mph and being downgraded after spending much of the day as a Category 4 storm. And while the National Hurricane Center said additional weakening was expected throughout the day, it noted Simon was still expected to be a strong hurricane as it passes Mexico’s west-central coast on Sunday.
That’s not good news for people in the Puerto Vallarta area, a popular destination for U.S. tourists. Just inland and uphill from the resort areas, many Mexicans live in communities where housing might not stand up to the storm.
As of Sunday evening, Simon was centered about
As of Sunday evening, Simon was centered about 50 miles south of Cabo Corrientes, and moving north-northwest at a relatively slow 5 mph.
A senior hurricane center specialist, Phillippe Pappin, said this westernmost tip of mainland Mexico is the area most likely to get a direct hit from the system. Cabo Corrientes is at the southern tip of Bahia de Banderas, the wide bay where Puerto Vallarta looks out to the Pacific.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 25 miles, and tropical-storm-force winds reach up to 60 miles from Simon’s center, meaning the entire area between Mexico’s western coast and the Sierra Madre mountains could be affected.
We’re expecting catastrophic wind and life-threatening storm surge
“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,” Pappin said. “They’re also getting very heavy rainfall associated with the storm that’s likely going to produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides in areas of higher terrain along the Mexican coastline, and there will be significant swells.”
As the storm approached Puerto Vallarta, National Guard vehicles patrolled the streets while police used a megaphone to call out the few people who were jogging, walking their dogs or biking by the waterfront. Officers reminded people that the area was closed and urged them to take shelter. Not everyone followed the orders.
Meanwhile, the hurricane was dumping rain over parts of southwestern Mexico. It could bring 10 to 20 inches of rain in many places, with some areas in the states of Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco receiving up to 30 inches.
Jalisco state suspended classes on Monday in 22
Jalisco state suspended classes on Monday in 22 coastal municipalities and began evacuating dozens of people from at-risk areas.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum took to the social platform X on Sunday to urge people in Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit and Michoacan to stay sheltered until the government issues a notification that the danger has passed. She also asked people to follow recommendations from civil protection officials and to avoid traveling on public roads.
“Precautionary evacuation efforts to safe zones are ongoing; the priority is our safety,” she wrote.
Hotel worker Víctor Martínez went shopping for nonperishable
Hotel worker Víctor Martínez went shopping for nonperishable food Sunday afternoon. He said he could not go to work because public transportation service was suspended and most of the hotel had been evacuated.
Martínez said he found people’s concerns about the hurricane comforting.
“It happened to us before. It hit us years ago,” Martínez said, referring to a Category 5 hurricane that hit 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.”
On Saturday, ahead of the storm’s arrival, convenience stores, hotels and other businesses in Puerto Vallarta were boarding up their windows. Few were walking the streets under overcast skies.
Let’s hope it doesn’t hit us, right
“Let’s hope it doesn’t hit us, right? That it doesn’t affect us,” Jesús Gómez said as he stood outside a shop and handed out free samples of candied peanuts to passersby. “We’ll be working as usual throughout the day, but when Civil Protection officials come and tell us we need to close, then we’ll close and take shelter until the storm passes.”
The hurricane center expected a dangerous storm surge “along the immediate coast near and to the east of where the center makes landfall.” The agency warned that near the coast, large and destructive waves will accompany the surge.
Despite the risks posed by Simon, tourists were still arriving in Puerto Vallarta.
Visitors Ricardo Ramírez and Brenda Villarreal, who have never lived through a hurricane, went looking for food by the city’s boardwalk and came across police urging people to take shelter. Ramírez said they were 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
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.”
Canadian tourist Ed Currie, who, along with his wife, still has five more days to enjoy Puerto Vallarta, said the hurricane had not yet affected his plans.
Just stay in the hotel and look out
“Just stay in the hotel and look out the window hopefully,” he said of what the couple would do Saturday. “I just don’t know what to expect.”
Unlike the Atlantic, which saw just its first named hurricane of the season this week with Isaias, the Pacific season has been very active. Simon’s arrival comes on the heels of Polo, which slammed Mexico last week as a Category 2 hurricane before reaching the southwestern U.S. and bringing heavy flooding to the region.
