Hurricane Simon nears Mexico with 155 mph winds and flooding fears

Hurricane Simon, a powerful Category 4 storm, was approaching Mexico's Pacific coast on Sunday. The storm had maximum winds of 155 miles per hour, according to the US National Hurricane Center. The eye of the hurricane was just off the coast, and it was expected to move inland later in the day.

The storm was forecast to bring destructive winds, coastal flooding, and dangerous rainfall to west-central Mexico. The National Hurricane Center warned of significant or catastrophic wind, surge, and rainfall over portions of the region. Mexico's Navy had evacuated around 100 people from settlements along the country's west coast due to the storm.

Preparations to protect life and property were urged to be rushed to completion in the hurricane warning area. The storm's approach had already caused high surf to hit the coast of Puerto Vallarta in Jalisco, Mexico. The government of Jalisco state had declared a red alert for several municipalities. The National Hurricane Center forecast rainfall of 10 to 20 inches across affected areas, with isolated accumulations potentially reaching 30 inches in parts of Michoacan, Colima, and Jalisco.

Brief written by urgent.news from NPR, Daily Times, Free Malaysia Today, RTE News, Arabian Post — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.