2 dead, 10 missing as hurricane and tropical storm hit Mexico

At least two people have been killed and 10 are missing in Mexico as severe weather linked to a hurricane and a tropical storm battered parts of the country, authorities said on Monday.

The incidents are linked to Hurricane Simon, which is moving along the Mexican Pacific coast, and Tropical Storm Rachel, which has reached the northwestern state of Baja California.

Simon has weakened to a Category 2 storm, its eye remaining just offshore as its most powerful winds and rain slammed communities between the Sierra Madre and the ocean and were forecast to persist off the coast of Puerto Vallarta.

More rain and isolated thunderstorms could hit the southwest United States, prompting forecasters to issue flood watches on Monday after the remnants of Rachel caused severe flooding in Las Vegas over the weekend.

In Mexico, a 71-year-old man died after a wall collapsed in Chilpancingo, the capital of the southern state of Guerrero, Governor Evelyn Salgado said at a press conference. In the state of Baja California, at least 10 people were reported missing and a young girl dead in the aftermath of tropical storm Rachel, according to Governor Marina del Pilar. Officials were helping more than 50 people in temporary shelters, Pilar said.

Simon downed trees and electricity poles, blocked roads and flooded homes in the state’s coastal towns, including the major seaport of Acapulco, said Salgado.

The storm is forecast to weaken later on Monday as it moves northwest but the National Hurricane Centre said it is expected to remain a hurricane until the middle of the week and may get more intense again on Tuesday and Wednesday. Simon is expected to turn northeast and make landfall on Thursday near Sinaloa, after which it will weaken rapidly as it moves inland.

Rachel weakened into a post-tropical cyclone as it moved north into southern California. The storm battered the coast over the weekend with wind, rain and unusually large waves, which tore apart a historic boardwalk and smashed into coastal homes. Some residents were forced to evacuate.

Las Vegas tied an all-time daily rainfall record for the month of October after receiving 2.74cm (1.08 inches) of rain into Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service. The last time that much rain fell on the city in one October day was in 1947.

Videos posted on social media showed a torrent of water rushing through a street near the Las Vegas Strip, with a Ferris wheel and casinos in the background.

Andrew Orrison, a weather service meteorologist, said localised flash flooding was still a risk for the region on Monday.

“We’ve seen the worst of what Rachel brought … but unfortunately we are looking at the disturbed weather still lingering,” Orrison said.

The weather service issued flood watches until Monday afternoon for a large swathe of Utah, southeast Idaho, and northern and central Arizona, including the Grand Canyon.

In Utah, dozens of runners and volunteers who were part of the Moab 240 ultra-marathon were evacuated on Sunday after being stranded by flooding. The race goes through Canyonlands and Arches National Park.

The additional rainfall is not associated with Rachel but a different weather system moving across the West, Orrison said. The precipitation is forecast to end by Wednesday.

The east coast is forecast to remain clear since Hurricane Isaias has moved well offshore.

At least four deaths have been linked to Isaias, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, which came ashore as a Category 2 hurricane on Friday near Destin, Florida, a Gulf coast holiday spot filled with high-rise buildings and tourist shops. The storm then roared into Alabama with tropical-force winds before heading farther north.

About 132,000 customers remained without power on Monday afternoon in the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama, according to poweroutage.com. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he expected nearly everyone to have it restored by Tuesday night.

Drier weather is expected over the next few days across areas of the mid-Atlantic down through the southeast, including the southern Appalachians.

It will feel “a little summerish” in some of those areas with higher than normal temperatures this week, Orrison said.