Six people have died along Mexico’s Pacific coast after heavy rains from Hurricane Simon and the remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel triggered flooding and landslides, authorities said on Tuesday. As the storm system tracked, emergency personnel mobilized across multiple states to conduct rescues, search for missing residents, and clear blocked roadways.
Ensenada Flooding Claims Five Lives
The worst damage was reported in the coastal city of Ensenada, Baja California, where flooding caused by Rachel’s remnants resulted in at least five fatalities. The state prosecutor’s office detailed that the recovery operation began Sunday with the discovery of a 13-year-old girl’s body. On Monday, search teams pulled the bodies of two women, aged 30 and 35, and a 4-year-old boy from the debris. An unidentified individual was subsequently found near a stream on Tuesday.
Local residents described sudden and overwhelming water surges after heavy overnight rainfall knocked out electricity. Johana Nuriulu, a resident of Ensenada’s Buena Vista community, recounted hearing a loud noise resembling intense ocean waves before discovering that a nearby stream had overflowed its banks and swept away cabins, animals, and vehicles.
State civil protection authorities stated that approximately 300 military personnel, police officers, and rescue workers deployed along Ensenada’s El Pipila stream on Tuesday. Concurrently, the Mexican Navy continued searches for five individuals still missing in Baja California. This missing persons total includes three people from Ensenada alongside a father and son who failed to return after departing on a fishing trip Saturday from San Felipe on the Gulf of California.
Orphanage Airlift and Coastal Rescues
Amid the Ensenada flooding, military operations extended to surrounding areas. Mexican soldiers utilized helicopters to airlift 32 people—including 13 minors—from Rancho Genesis, a camp for orphans staffed by missionaries. The army reported that 22 of those rescued were foreign nationals, with Baja California Security Secretary Gen. Laureano Carrillo confirming the group included Americans and Germans.
Farther south, the storm’s initial impacts over the weekend struck Guerrero state, where Gov. Evelyn Salgado reported that a 71-year-old person died in the capital city of Chilpancingo when a wall collapsed. Simon’s heavy rains also knocked down trees and utility poles, obstructed roads, and inundated homes across coastal communities, including the resort city of Acapulco.
Hurricane Simon’s Pacific Track
On Tuesday, Hurricane Simon maintained its status as a Category 1 storm while moving slowly off the Mexican Pacific coast. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami reported the system was centered roughly 180 kilometers (110 miles) west of Cabo Corrientes, Jalisco, packing maximum sustained winds of 150 kph (90 mph) while moving west at 4 kph (2 mph).
The trajectory kept authorities on alert across Nayarit and Sinaloa states for rising river levels and flooding, with national Civil Protection Coordinator Laura Velázquez noting that preventive measures were enacted in the port city of Mazatlan. Meanwhile, conditions stabilized in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, where state authorities ordered schools to reopen on Tuesday and airport operations gradually resumed as rainfall tapered off.
