Simón spent Saturday night as a Category 4 hurricane: El Economista placed it 135 kilometers from Manzanillo in mid-afternoon, and El Comentario 105 kilometers away late at night. Infobae reported that the red alert was activated for the coast of Colima and Jalisco, and that Sheinbaum announced the suspension of nonessential activities. The Defense Secretariat is keeping Plan DN-III-E in force in Colima, Jalisco and Nayarit with nearly 3,000 personnel (El Universal). The Puerto Vallarta airport closed (El Economista, Infobae) and, according to El Comercio, so did Manzanillo’s. Nayarit decreed a dry law and closed its beaches (El Financiero), and the Navy evacuated 76 people from Quimixto and Yelapa (El Universal). The landfall point and time are still unconfirmed.
The category describes the wind, but a good part of a hurricane’s damage comes from water: waves of up to eight meters and extraordinary rains that can cause floods and landslides far from the coast. A forecast that changes from bulletin to bulletin leaves little room to decide whether to evacuate.
If you live or travel on the coast of Colima, Jalisco, Nayarit or Michoacán, follow only SMN and Civil Protection notices, locate your temporary shelter, stay out of the sea and avoid coastal roads. If you have a flight to the Pacific, check first with your airline and the AICM.
The authorities say the operations, shelters and preventive closures are under way and that the priority is to protect the population.
Meteorologists warn that a cyclone’s intensity and landfall point change quickly, and that the danger does not end when the eye makes landfall.
What matters today is not the category number but the latest bulletin. Until it is known where it will make landfall, it makes sense to prepare for the worst reasonable case. We will watch the landfall time, the state of the airports and whether Rachel worsens the situation in Baja California.
El Economista · Infobae · El Comentario · El Universal · El Financiero · El Comercio · El Sol de México · Reforma · TV Azteca · AS México (10–11/10)
Simón remains a Category 4 hurricane about 100 kilometers from Manzanillo; red alert in Colima and Jalisco as the airports of Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo close
The cyclone could make landfall today, Sunday, but neither the time nor the exact point is confirmed. The first waves have already reached the streets of Colima and a seafront promenade in Puerto Vallarta.
Simón spent Saturday night as a Category 4 hurricane. El Economista placed it 135 kilometers from Manzanillo, Colima, in mid-afternoon, and El Comentario 105 kilometers away late at night. Infobae reported this Sunday that the red alert, the highest level of Civil Protection’s warning system, was activated for the coast of Colima and Jalisco. President Claudia Sheinbaum announced the suspension of nonessential activities in the affected regions (Infobae), and the Defense Secretariat is keeping Plan DN-III-E, the Army’s protocol for assisting the population in disasters, in force in Colima, Jalisco and Nayarit with nearly 3,000 personnel, according to El Universal. The Puerto Vallarta airport closed (El Economista, Infobae) and, according to El Comercio, so did Manzanillo’s; the government also closed Pacific ports (Infobae). Nayarit decreed a dry law and closed all its beaches (El Financiero). Civil Protection ordered people to shelter in place in four states (Reforma), El Financiero also put Michoacán on alert because of the hurricane’s proximity, and El Universal counted rains from Simón and Rachel in seven states.
Where and when it will make landfall is still unconfirmed. Infobae and El Economista speak of an impact this Sunday, and the forecast changes from one SMN bulletin to the next. At Category 4, the Saffir-Simpson scale implies sustained winds of between 209 and 251 km/h; Infobae anticipated waves of up to eight meters and extraordinary rainfall. The first damage has already been seen: in Colima the sea spilled into the streets (El Financiero) and in Puerto Vallarta strong waves hit the seafront promenade (El Universal). The Navy evacuated 76 people from Quimixto and Yelapa, two coastal communities in Jalisco, and a community north of Comala, Colima, was moved to a temporary shelter (El Universal). With so much water and wind at once, the danger is not limited to the point where the eye makes landfall: the extraordinary rains can cause floods and landslides inland, even with the hurricane already weakened.
The storm is already disrupting the weekend. The AICM warned of cancellations and delays on routes to the Pacific (Infobae, El Sol de México), and the embassies of Canada (Infobae) and the United States (El Economista) issued travel alerts. The Clásico Tapatío between Atlas and Chivas was put on hold during the afternoon, according to TV Azteca, and ended in a draw (El Universal, AS México). A second system, Tropical Storm Rachel, threatens Baja California; Conagua is monitoring rivers and dams in Tijuana and rules out risks for now (El Economista). For anyone living or traveling on the Pacific coast, what helps is simple: follow only SMN and Civil Protection notices, locate the nearest temporary shelter, stay out of the sea and postpone road trips to the coast.