\n<\/p>\n
Hurricane John on Monday slammed into Mexico’s southern Pacific coast as a major Category 3 storm, bringing warnings for residents to seek shelter indoors.<\/p>\n
John came ashore near Marquelia in Guerrero state, packing maximum sustained winds of around 120 miles (195 kilometers) per hour, the US-based National Hurricane Center said.<\/p>\n
“Damaging hurricane-force winds, life-threatening storm surge and flash flooding are ongoing,” it warned.<\/p>\n
“Slow-moving Hurricane John will bring very heavy rainfall to coastal portions of southwest Mexico through the upcoming week,” according to the NHC, which put John in the third-highest category on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale.<\/p>\n
“This heavy rainfall will likely cause significant and possibly catastrophic, life-threatening flash flooding” in the southern states of Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero, it said.<\/p>\n
A hurricane warning was in effect from east of Acapulco to Bahias de Huatulco on the Pacific coast.<\/p>\n
“After landfall, the system will rapidly weaken over the high terrain of southern Mexico,” the NHC said.<\/p>\n
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador earlier warned people living along the affected coastline to be prepared.<\/p>\n
“Seek higher ground, protect yourselves and do not forget that the most important thing is life; material things are replaceable,” he wrote on social media platform X.<\/p>\n
The National Civil Protection agency issued a red alert, telling people to stay indoors and keep away from windows.<\/p>\n
Authorities in Oaxaca said they were opening temporary shelters, suspending school classes, closing beaches and mobilizing machinery in case needed to clear roads.<\/p>\n
The international airport in the tourist resort of Puerto Escondido suspended all flights.<\/p>\n
In Guerrero, authorities said around 300 temporary shelters were ready if needed.<\/p>\n
Restaurant workers were seen bringing furniture in from beaches, while fishermen returned to shore.<\/p>\n
Hurricanes hit Mexico every year on both its Pacific and Atlantic coasts, usually between May and November.<\/p>\n
In October last year, Hurricane Otis, a scale-topping Category 5 storm, left a trail of destruction and several dozen people dead after slamming into the beachside city of Acapulco in Guerrero.<\/p>\n
Otis rapidly intensified within hours from a tropical storm to the most powerful category of the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, taking authorities by surprise.<\/p>\n
bur-dr\/nro<\/p>\n<\/div>\n