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

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Simon pounded 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.

The hurricane's center swirled parallel to the coast, closing in on the Puerto Vallarta area, where its most damaging winds and rain were expected to hit around midnight and continue through Monday morning. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said it’s not clear if it will make landfall, which could enable it to maintain its dangerous strength, sustaining winds of 140 mph (220 kph).

That’s not good news for people in and around Puerto Vallarta, 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.

By midday Sunday, Simon's eye was moving within about 65 miles (100 kilometers) of Cabo Corrientes at about 7 mph (11 kph). A senior hurricane center specialist, Phillipe Pappin, said this westernmost tip of mainland Mexico is the area most likely to get a direct hit from the system. Cabo Corrientes is at the southern tip of Bahia de Banderas, the wide bay where Puerto Vallarta looks out to the Pacific.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 25 miles (35 kilometers), and tropical-storm-force winds reach up to 80 miles (130 kilometers) from Simon’s center, meaning the entire area between Mexico's western coast and the Sierra Madre mountains could be affected.

“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.”

Meanwhile, the hurricane dumped 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).

As the storm approached Puerto Vallarta, National Guard vehicles patrolled the streets while police used a megaphone to call out the few people who were jogging, walking their dogs or biking by the waterfront. Officers reminded people that the area was closed and urged them to take shelter. Not everyone followed the orders.

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 and visitors are fully accommodated in shelters or safe zones.

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

“Just stay in the hotel and look out the window hopefully,” he said as convenience stores, hotels and other businesses were boarding up their windows. “I just don’t know what to expect.”