Hurricane Simon and Tropical Storm Rachel kill five people on Mexico’s Pacific coast

At least five people have died after Hurricane Simon and Tropical Storm Rachel pummelled Mexico’s Pacific coast, causing flooding that downed trees and electricity poles, blocked roads and inundated homes.Simon claimed the life of a 71-year-old man who died when a wall collapsed in Chilpancingo in the southern state of Guerrero, governor Evelyn Salgado said at a press conference.The storm also damaged infrastructure and homes in the state’s coastal towns, including the major seaport of Acapulco, she said.Tropical Storm Rachel is blamed for the deaths of four members of one family, including two children, whose bodies were found on the outskirts of the city of Ensenada in Baja California, the state’s prosecutor’s office reported.Five more people remained missing, while security forces used helicopters to rescue 32 people, prosecutors said. Baja governor Marina del Pilar said officials were helping more than 50 people in temporary shelters.Hurricane Simon has flooded streets in towns along Mexico’s Pacific coast. Photograph: Christian Ruano/ReutersSimon did not make landfall and, after weakening to category two on the five-point Saffir-Simpson scale, was moving away from the coast, authorities said. A rain alert remained in place.The National Hurricane Center in Miami said heavy rainfall associated with Simon in west-central Mexico over the next few days might still produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides.Officials warned waves of up to five metres high were still expected in some coastal areas. Flooding and landslides had already hit communities close to rivers and streams in the states of Michoacan and Colima.A man walks past a boarded-up business in Puerto Vallarta bearing the message ‘Simon, be brief, be peaceful’. Photograph: Christian Ruano/ReutersThe El Niño phenomenon, characterised by rising water temperatures in the Pacific, is fuelling a more intense hurricanes this season in the region.Meteorologists say the 2026-27 El Niño, which causes global changes in winds and rainfall as well as erratic weather conditions, is certain to be the biggest ever recorded. Scientists now also think human-caused global heating is making El Niños more intense.With Agence France-Presse and Associated Press