Rachel's Surf Red-Tags 8 Long Beach Buildings as Hurricane Simon Weakens to Category 3 Off Mexico

Since Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, on Friday, the weather map has only gotten busier. As of Sunday, Oct. 11, Isaias's remnants are soaking the Appalachians, Rachel's leftovers are flooding the Southwest, and Hurricane Simon is grinding along Mexico's Pacific coast.

Rachel leaves Long Beach homes unsafe

The National Weather Service said Sunday that Rachel is now a post-tropical storm. It flooded and damaged parts of Southern California over the weekend before moving inland across the desert Southwest.

The worst visible damage is on the Alamitos Peninsula in Long Beach. Heavy surf breached the sand berms built to keep the ocean out, partly submerged oceanfront homes and tore into a century-old wooden boardwalk.

At least eight buildings covering 13 addresses were red-tagged as unsafe to enter, according to Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson. One more was yellow-tagged, which lets residents go in briefly to retrieve belongings.

Natalie Cabrera, 59, rents a beachfront bungalow she moved into a year and a half ago. Water came up from the ground, she said, and "the floor is squishy." She plans to move back to Ontario, California. "This was my dream," she said.

Robert Wells, 80, whose family has owned a summer home on the peninsula since 1962, said he had never seen destruction like this. He argued the berm the city built made the damage worse, not better. That is his view; the city's berm was put up to hold back the water.

Flood warnings stayed in effect along much of the California coast, from San Diego to the San Francisco Bay area. Rockslides temporarily blocked some roads.

Las Vegas record, Utah next

Rachel's moisture kept moving northeast. Las Vegas broke its daily rainfall record Sunday. The weather service issued a flood watch for much of Utah, including Salt Lake City, with heavy rain starting Sunday evening.

The Weather Company forecast widespread totals of 1 to 5 inches across the Southwest, with higher amounts possible locally. Flash flooding could hit dry creeks, arroyos, slot canyons and urban areas, including parts of the L.A. Basin, the San Diego area, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City, lingering into Monday or Tuesday.

The same system is pulling in colder air. Parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho could see their first significant snow of the season, with some spots forecast to get over a foot. Southern California, stuck in the 90s and triple digits for over a week, is forecast to drop 5 to 15 degrees below average by Monday.

Simon weakens but stays dangerous

Simon peaked early Sunday at 155 mph with a central pressure of 930 millibars, according to the National Hurricane Center's 3 a.m. advisory. By Sunday evening it had dropped to Category 3 after losing about 25 mph of sustained wind speed.

The storm was centered about 50 miles south of Cabo Corrientes, moving north-northwest at a slow 5 mph. The hurricane center has said it is unclear whether the eye will make landfall.

Its most damaging winds and rain are expected to reach the Puerto Vallarta area around midnight local time tonight and continue through Monday morning. Hurricane-force winds extend up to 25 miles from the center.

"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," said Phillippe Pappin, a senior hurricane center specialist. He added that heavy rain is likely to cause life-threatening flooding and mudslides in higher terrain.

Rainfall could reach 10 to 20 inches in many places, and up to 30 inches in parts of Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco.

In Puerto Vallarta, National Guard vehicles patrolled the streets and police used megaphones to order the few joggers and dog walkers along the waterfront to take shelter. Not everyone complied. Many residents in communities just inland and uphill from the resorts live in housing that may not withstand the storm.

Jalisco suspended classes Monday in 22 coastal municipalities and began evacuating people from at-risk areas. President Claudia Sheinbaum urged people in Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit and Michoacan to stay sheltered until the government gives the all-clear.

Isaias: four deaths, flooding in the mountains

Isaias's remnants dumped heavy rain on western North Carolina on Sunday. Rivers overflowed, and tornadoes were possible in parts of Virginia and North Carolina.

Nearly a dozen weather stations in the area logged 24-hour totals from about 5 inches to 9.57 inches at the fire and rescue station in Enola. In McDowell County, first responders handled five landslides and voluntary evacuations overnight, and the county reported no known injuries or deaths. Burke County had at least two water rescues.

At least four deaths are tied to the storm. In Escambia County, Florida, Sheriff Chip Simmons said a woman died when a tree fell on her home and a man died from generator exhaust in his garage. Four of the man's family members, ages 4 to 72, were treated and expected to survive.

Birmingham Fire Chief Cory Moon said one person died when a tree hit a house. Josh Johnson of Alabama's emergency management agency said a second Alabama death came in a crash involving a downed tree in Barbour County.

A warning for the winter

Forecasters warn Rachel may be a preview. They expect the strongest El Niño on record this winter, with hotter-than-average ocean temperatures and likely record rainfall, heavy surf and mudslides in California well into next year.

Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an emergency proclamation last month. The state is pre-positioning more than 4 million sandbags, more than 50,000 feet of portable flood barriers and 400,000 tons of rock for levee repairs. It is also inspecting dams and reinforcing the pillars under beach piers.

Long Beach's red tags are still in place, and Utah's flood watch begins tonight. Simon's strongest winds are due in Puerto Vallarta around midnight local time.