Hurricane Simon lashes Mexico's Pacific coast as a major storm

Hurricane Simon battered Mexico's Pacific coast on Sunday as a major hurricane, with its eye hovering just offshore near the resort area of Puerto Vallarta, according to reports carried by News4JAX and KSAT.

The outlets gave differing figures as the storm developed. The Anchorage Daily News and KPBS reported that Simon had reached sustained winds of 155 mph, just short of Category 5 strength, and was about 60 miles west-southwest of Manzanillo. News4JAX and KSAT described it as a Category 4 storm with 150 mph winds, centered at daybreak roughly 110 miles south-southeast of Cabo Corrientes. All four outlets said it was moving north-northwest at about 6 mph.

The outlets also differed on landfall. The Anchorage Daily News and KPBS said the storm was expected to move inland later Sunday. News4JAX and KSAT reported that U.S. National Hurricane Center forecasters were uncertain whether it would come ashore, because its eye was tracking close to and roughly parallel with the coastline.

Phillipe Pappin, a senior specialist at the hurricane center, said Cabo Corrientes, the westernmost point of mainland Mexico, was the most likely spot for a direct hit, News4JAX and KSAT reported. "Simon is very close to the coast of Mexico this morning," Pappin said, according to those outlets. He warned of catastrophic winds, life-threatening storm surge, flooding and mudslides in higher terrain.

Forecasters said the storm could drop 10 to 20 inches of rain across parts of southwestern Mexico, with up to 30 inches possible in some areas of Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco, all four outlets reported. The hurricane center also cautioned that large, destructive waves would accompany a dangerous surge near and east of where the center reaches the coast.

News4JAX and KSAT noted that many residents live in communities inland and uphill from the resort zones where housing may not withstand the storm.

Authorities in Jalisco suspended classes on Friday and Monday in 22 coastal municipalities and started evacuating people from vulnerable areas, the outlets reported. The Anchorage Daily News and KPBS said dozens of people were being moved. State officials also asked Puerto Vallarta's tourism industry to make sure workers and visitors were placed in shelters or safe zones.

On Saturday, convenience stores, hotels and other businesses in Puerto Vallarta boarded up windows, and few people were out on the streets, according to the Anchorage Daily News and KPBS. A local vendor told those outlets he planned to keep working until civil protection officials ordered businesses to close.

Canadian tourist Ed Currie, who has five more days in Puerto Vallarta with his wife, said the couple planned to stay in their hotel. "I just don't know what to expect," he said, as reported by all four outlets.

Compiled by True News from reporting by Anchorage Daily News, KPBS, News4JAX and KSAT. Each outlet's original story is linked below.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/38