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The death toll from Hurricane Simon and the remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel rose to six Tuesday after heavy rains triggered flooding and landslides along Mexico’s Pacific coast, authorities said.
Hurricane Simon continued moving slowly off Mexico’s Pacific coast as a Category 1 storm, bringing heavy rain to Nayarit and Sinaloa states, where authorities remained on alert for rising rivers and flooding. Over the weekend, the hurricane brought heavy rain to the southern state of Guerrero, killing one person.
But the worst damage was reported farther north, in the coastal city of Ensenada, Baja California, where flooding caused by Rachel’s remnants killed at least five people.
The victims included a 13-year-old girl whose body was found Sunday, two women ages 30 and 35 and a four-year-old boy whose bodies were recovered Monday, and an unidentified person found near a stream Tuesday, the state prosecutor’s office told The Associated Press.
Five others remained missing in Baja California, including three in Ensenada and a father and son who went fishing Saturday in San Felipe, on the Gulf of California, and never returned.
A person rides a bicycle through a flooded street in San Francisco, also known as San Pancho, off Mexico’s Pacific Coast. (Christian Ruano/Reuters)
Johana Nuriulu, a resident of Ensenada’s Buena Vista community, said the flooding began during the night, shortly after heavy rain knocked out electricity.
“We heard a loud noise that sounded like ocean waves, but really loud,” she said.
Nuriulu said she went outside and discovered that a nearby stream had overflowed, sending water rushing through the neighbourhood. The waters inundated streets and homes, sweeping away vehicles and other belongings.
“Everything was being dragged away,” Nuriulu said.
Several communities were cut off by landslides and overflowing rivers elsewhere in Baja California.
In the afternoon, the Mexican military used helicopters to rescue 32 people — 22 of them foreigners — from a ranch in Ensenada. Baja California Gov. Marina del Pilar Avila said 13 were youths.
The state secretary of security, Gen. Laureano Carrillo, said that some of the group were missionaries meeting at the ranch and that among them were Germans and Americans.
6 missing in Baja California
According to Avila, some 14,000 federal and state personnel had been deployed across Baja California to assist affected residents and respond to the emergency.
A drone view shows waves crash against beachfront buildings as Hurricane Simon remains off Mexico’s Pacific coast, in San Pancho. (Christian Ruano/Reuters)
To the south, Simon downed trees and electricity poles, blocked roads and flooded homes in coastal towns of Guerrero state, including the major seaport of Acapulco, Gov. Evelyn Salgado said at a news conference.
A 71-year-old man died after a wall collapsed in Chilpancingo, Guerrero’s capital, Salgado said.
Simon, which strengthened through Tuesday in the Pacific Ocean was nearly a hurricane again as it slowly approached the western Mexico coast, where heavy rainfall may produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides before landfall possibly late Friday.
In Puerto Vallarta, workers removed wooden panels from boarded-up storefronts and businesses reopened Monday as rains eased. The popular tourist destination’s international airport suspended operations until Tuesday morning.
Rachel weakened into a post-tropical cyclone as it moved north into Southern California. The storm battered the coast with unusually large waves, which tore apart a boardwalk and smashed into homes in Long Beach. Some residents were forced to evacuate.