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Simon menaces Baja peninsula

October 4, 2014

Swirling off Mexico’s coast, Simon has become the 13th named hurricane of the 2014 eastern North Pacific storm season. The new hurricane comes just as life had returned to near-normal following Hurricane Odile.

https://p.dw.com/p/1DPip
Mexico Storm Odile
Image: Carlos Robalo/picture-alliance/dpa

The cyclone, 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Mexico's Socorro Island, began tracking west-northwestward at 19 kilometers per hour (12 mph) Saturday morning, according to the US-based National Hurricane Center (NHC). Simon - with winds nearing 120 kilometers per hour, a relatively light Category 1 on the five-point Saffir-Simpson scale - could drop 38 centimeters (15 inches) of rain on Mexico's peninsular Baja California Sur, while leaving the drought-parched US state of California, not 1,700 kilometers north, still dry.

"Some additional strengthening is possible during the next 24 hours, but a gradual weakening should begin thereafter," the NHC announced Saturday. "These rains could cause flash flooding and mudslides," according to the NHC. The agency also reported that swells generated by Simon affecting parts of the southwestern coast of Mexico "are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions."

Home to the popular Los Cabos resort area, the Mexican state of Baja California Sur continues to reel from damage caused by Hurricane Odile (pictured), which made landfall on September 15 as a Category 3 storm, killing six people and causing material damage. The Los Cabos airport only resumed operations Friday, after flooding had caused power outages and flipped planes over. International flights should resume on Wednesday.

In the aftermath of Odile, authorities airlifted about 26,800 people out of Los Cabos, most of them foreign tourists. On Friday, the first cruise ship docked in Los Cabos since Odile touched down in mid-September, with another 40 expected to arrive this month.

The Mexican National Water Commission has forecast that Simon would weaken to a tropical storm and not ultimately reach the Baja California peninsula. However, Mexico's government has advised residents to keep alert for news from authorities, as floods and landslides remain possible, with the soil still in rough shape after Odile.

mkg/tj (Reuters, AFP)