Five dead as Hurricane Simon, Rachel pummel Mexico's Pacific coast

PUERTO VALLARTA: Rains and flooding along Mexico's Pacific Coast from Hurricane Simon and Tropical Storm Rachel have left five people dead, authorities said Monday.

The El Nino phenomenon, characterized by rising water temperatures in the Pacific, is fuelling a more intense hurricanes this season in the region.

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 during the daily presidential press conference.

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 remain missing, while security forces used helicopters to rescue 32 people, prosecutors said.

Simon did not make landfall and, after weakening to Category 2 on the five-point Saffir-Simpson scale, was moving away from the coast, authorities said, adding that a rain alert remained in place.

Officials warned waves of up to five meters 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.

Simon will approach Mexico's west-central coast between Wednesday and Thursday, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).

The latest official report from Mexican authorities indicates that "it will hit Mazatlan, Sinaloa, as a Category 1 hurricane," said national civil protection coordinator Laura Velazquez.

The tourist gem of Puerto Vallarta, which had been bracing for extreme weather, awoke Monday to clear skies and a rainbow, an AFP team observed.

Residents of the beach resort exercised along the seafront promenade as waves continued to crash with force.

Magda Flores, 55, told AFP she felt "much more at ease," voicing hope that shuttered businesses would reopen soon.