Two deaths reported as Hurricane Simon, storm Rachel batter Mexico’s coast

Simon caps a Pacific season of record-breaking intensity, as deadly storms wreak havoc from Hawaii to Mexico.

People watch waves crash against the waterfront promenade in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on October 11, as Hurricane Simon churns nearby [Christian Ruano/Reuters]

At least two people have died in Mexico after Hurricane Simon and former tropical storm Rachel brought torrential rain and catastrophic flooding to Pacific coast communities.

At a Monday news briefing, Guerrero Governor Evelyn Salgado confirmed that a 71-year-old man had died during Hurricane Simon after a retaining wall collapsed under the weight of intense precipitation.

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According to the Guerrero-based news agency IRZA, the man, identified by his family as Albino Moreno Jimenez, had been feeding his animals on the western outskirts of Chilpancingo when a wall came crashing down on him.

A second death was announced later in the day in the state of Baja California along Mexico’s western coast. There, Governor Marina del Pilar said that a young girl had died from the effects of what was once Hurricane Rachel, which peaked in early October as a Category 3 storm.

At least 10 more people remain missing in Baja California, according to the governor. Eight were reported missing in the city of Ensenada, on the Pacific coast, and two in the fishing town of San Felipe on the Gulf of California.

The figures remain preliminary, with local newspaper La Jornada reporting a higher death toll of two in Baja California and 11 missing.

Death toll expected to rise

Rachel made landfall in the Mexican state as a post-tropical cyclone, and its remnants have travelled north through southern California in the southwestern United States.

Hurricane Simon, meanwhile, has churned off the coast of Mexico since the weekend. By late Monday morning, it had weakened from a powerful Category 4 storm to a Category 2.

Its maximum sustained winds had slowed slightly to around 155km/h (100mph), according to the US National Hurricane Center. Its centre was about 115km west-southwest of Cabo Corrientes, a cape in the state of Jalisco, drifting west at 3km/h.

Forecasters predict Simon could make landfall on Thursday or Friday. Hurricane warnings remain in effect for western Mexico, which is vulnerable to landslides and deadly surf conditions as a result of the storm.

Experts warn the death toll from both storms could rise, and officials have called on residents to exercise caution amid the devastation wrought by downed trees, high winds and floodwaters.

The Spanish newspaper El Pais reported the death of a cliff diver, Juan Patines, who was killed in Mazatlan, the northwestern state of Sinaloa, after jumping into the sea on Saturday night.

According to Mexican media, the heavy surf hampered his efforts to return to shore amid dangerous coastal conditions associated with Hurricane Simon. Local authorities later halted cliff-diving at the site due to hazardous sea conditions.

Officials have yet to confirm whether his death was directly linked to Hurricane Simon.

A record Pacific storm season

Rachel and Simon have battered Mexico’s western coast as part of an extraordinary stretch of hurricane activity across the Pacific.

The northeastern and central Pacific Ocean has experienced a record storm season this year, fuelled in part by the El Nino weather phenomenon, which results in warming waters in parts of the region. Twenty-one named storms have been recorded in the Pacific so far.

On Sunday, Simon tipped the region to a historic high for accumulated cyclone energy (ACE), a metric of the combined strength and longevity of tropical storms. This year has already surpassed the previous high set in 2018.

The US island chain of Hawaii has been among the hardest-hit places. In August, Hurricane Lala unleashed ruinous flooding on Hawaii’s Big Island as a Category 1 storm, killing a 93-year-old woman and destroying some 100 homes, according to state officials.

A few weeks later, Hurricane Lowell , a Category 4 hurricane at its peak, struck the Hawaiian islands of Kauai and Niihau, where powerful winds, storm surge and flooding overwhelmed towns and roads.

Roughly 90 percent of Kauai’s power customers were plunged into darkness as a result of electricity outages. At least two deaths were linked to Lowell.

In late September, Hurricane Nolo brought another round of flooding and landslides to the Hawaiian islands, though it did not make landfall.

西蒙飓风为太平洋飓风季画上了句号，这场飓风以破纪录的强度席卷了从夏威夷到墨西哥的整个飓风季，造成严重破坏。

10月11日，飓风西蒙在墨西哥巴亚尔塔港附近肆虐，人们观看海浪拍打海滨长廊。[克里斯蒂安·鲁阿诺/路透社]

飓风西蒙和前热带风暴瑞秋给墨西哥太平洋沿岸社区带来暴雨和灾难性洪水，造成至少两人死亡。

周一的新闻发布会上，格雷罗州州长伊芙琳·萨尔加多证实，一名 71 岁的男子在飓风西蒙期间因挡土墙在强降雨的重压下倒塌而丧生。

飓风伊萨亚斯造成美国东南部四人死亡，数千人断电（共三条记录，此为第一条）

伊萨亚斯飓风登陆美国墨西哥湾沿岸后减弱（共3条记录，此为第2条）

飓风伊萨亚斯横扫美国墨西哥湾沿岸，造成严重破坏（列表3/3）

据格雷罗州新闻机构 IRZA 报道，这名男子被家人确认为阿尔比诺·莫雷诺·希门尼斯，事发时他正在奇尔潘辛戈西郊喂牲畜，突然一堵墙倒塌砸中了他。

当天晚些时候，墨西哥西海岸的下加利福尼亚州宣布了第二起死亡事件。该州州长玛丽娜·德尔·皮拉尔表示，一名年轻女孩因飓风“瑞秋”（Rachel）的影响而丧生。“瑞秋”飓风于10月初达到三级飓风强度。

据州长称，下加利福尼亚州至少还有10人失踪。其中8人在太平洋沿岸的恩塞纳达市失踪，2人在加利福尼亚湾的渔镇圣费利佩失踪。

这些数字仍为初步统计，当地报纸《La Jornada》报道称，下加利福尼亚州的死亡人数更高，为两人，另有 11 人失踪。

预计死亡人数将上升

瑞秋以后热带气旋的形式在墨西哥登陆，其残余势力向北移动，穿过美国西南部的南加州。

与此同时，飓风西蒙自周末以来一直在墨西哥沿海肆虐。到周一上午晚些时候，它已从强劲的四级飓风减弱为二级飓风。

据美国国家飓风中心称，其最大持续风速略微减弱至约155公里/小时（100英里/小时）。其中心位于哈利斯科州科连特斯角西南偏西约115公里处，正以3公里/小时的速度向西漂移。

预报员预测，西蒙飓风可能于周四或周五登陆。墨西哥西部仍处于飓风警报之下，该地区易受风暴引发的山体滑坡和致命巨浪的影响。

专家警告称，这两场风暴造成的死亡人数可能会上升，官员们呼吁居民在树木倒塌、强风和洪水造成的破坏中保持警惕。

西班牙《国家报》报道，一名悬崖跳水者胡安·帕蒂内斯 (Juan Patines) 于周六晚在西北部锡那罗亚州马萨特兰跳入海中后不幸身亡。

据墨西哥媒体报道，受飓风“西蒙”带来的危险海况影响，巨浪阻碍了他返回岸边的努力。当地政府随后因海况危险而叫停了该地点的悬崖跳水活动。

官方尚未证实他的死因是否与飓风西蒙直接相关。

太平洋风暴季创纪录

瑞秋和西蒙飓风肆虐墨西哥西海岸，这是太平洋地区一系列非同寻常的飓风活动的一部分。

今年，东北太平洋和中太平洋经历了有记录以来最频繁的风暴季，部分原因是厄尔尼诺现象导致该地区部分海域水温升高。迄今为止，太平洋已记录到21个命名风暴。

周日，西蒙预测该地区的累积气旋能量（ACE）将创下历史新高，ACE是衡量热带风暴强度和持续时间的综合指标。今年的ACE值已经超过了2018年创下的前一个纪录。

美国夏威夷群岛是受灾最严重的地区之一。据州政府官员称，8月份，飓风拉拉以一级飓风的强度袭击了夏威夷大岛，造成毁灭性洪水，导致一名93岁的老妇丧生，约100栋房屋被毁。

几周后，飓风洛厄尔（Lowell）——鼎盛时期为 4 级飓风——袭击了夏威夷的考艾岛和尼豪岛，强风、风暴潮和洪水淹没了城镇和道路。

考艾岛约90%的电力用户因停电而陷入黑暗。至少有两人的死亡与洛厄尔有关。

9 月下旬，飓风诺洛给夏威夷群岛带来了新一轮的洪水和山体滑坡，尽管它并未登陆。