Hurricane Simon pounds resorts and vulnerable towns along Mexico’s Pacific coast

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico — Hurricane Simon was pounding Mexico's Pacific coast as a Category 4 storm on Sunday, its eye remaining just offshore as its most powerful winds and rain slammed people living between the Sierra Madre and the ocean.

Simon’s eye was moving northward just off the coast, and forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center said it’s not clear if it will make landfall. This could mean Simon maintains its extremely dangerous strength, sustaining winds of 150 mph (240 kph).

That’s not good news for people in the Puerto Vallarta area, a popular destination for U.S. tourists. Just inland and uphill from the resort areas, many Mexicans live in communities where housing might not stand up to the storm.

At daybreak, Simon was centered about 110 miles (175 kilometers) south-southeast of Cabo Corrientes, and moving north-northwest at a relatively slow 6 mph (9 kph). A senior hurricane center specialist, Phillipe Pappin, said this westernmost tip of mainland Mexico was the most likely place for landfall.

“Simon is very close to the coast of Mexico this morning,” Pappin told The Associated Press on Sunday.

“We’re expecting catastrophic wind and life-threatening storm surge impacts along that west central coast of Mexico where the hurricane warning is currently in effect,” Pappin said. “They’re also getting very heavy rainfall associated with the storm that’s likely going to produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides in areas of higher terrain along the Mexican coastline, and there will be significant swells.”

As for predicting whether or not Simon will make landfall, “it’s a little tricky right now” to forecast, since the eye “is basically moving very close or parallel to the coast currently," Pappin said. But he predicted that Cabo Corrientes is the area most likely to get a direct hit from the system on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the hurricane was dumping rain over parts of southwestern Mexico. It could bring 10 to 20 inches (25 to 50 centimeters) of rain in many places, with some areas in the states of Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco receiving up to 30 inches (76 centimeters). "This rainfall will produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in areas of steep terrain," the center warned.

Jalisco state suspended classes on Friday and Monday in 22 coastal municipalities and began evacuating people from at-risk areas while asking the tourism sector to make sure workers as well as visitors are fully accommodated in shelters or safe zones.

On Saturday, just ahead of the worst weather, convenience stores, hotels and other businesses in Puerto Vallarta were boarding up their windows.

The hurricane center expected a dangerous storm surge along the immediate coast near and to the east of where the center makes landfall. The agency warned that near the coast, large and destructive waves will accompany the surge.

Canadian tourist Ed Currie, who along with his wife still has five more days to enjoy Puerto Vallarta, said the hurricane had not yet affected his plans.

“Just stay in the hotel and look out the window hopefully,” he said of what the couple would do. “I just don’t know what to expect.”

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