Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum urged residents along the country’s Pacific coast to remain indoors as powerful Category 4 Hurricane Simon approached the country’s west-central coast, threatening destructive winds, dangerous storm surges and potentially deadly flooding.
Simon was located about 105km west-northwest of the port city of Manzanillo, in Colima state, with maximum sustained winds of 230kmph, the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said in its latest advisory at 9am local time yesterday.
The hurricane was moving north-northwest at 11kmph, with its centre about 140km south-southeast of Cabo Corrientes, in neighbouring Jalisco state.
“With the approaching impact of Category 4 Hurricane Simon, we urge residents of coastal municipalities in Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit and Michoacan to remain sheltered until authorities officially declare that the danger has passed,” Sheinbaum said in a post on X.
She said precautionary evacuations to safer areas were continuing and urged residents to stay off the streets and follow civil protection instructions.
The NHC said Simon was expected to move very near Mexico’s west-central coast later in the day and remain close to the coast today, although forecast uncertainty remained over whether the center would cross inland or remain just offshore.
Even without a direct landfall, dangerous storm surges, large destructive waves and damaging winds were likely along portions of Mexico’s west-central coast, the forecaster warned.
Mexico’s National Civil Protection Co-ordination (CNPC) placed 28 municipalities in Jalisco and Colima under its highest cyclone alert level, while another 93 municipalities were under a high alert level.
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