The Pacific coast of southern Mexico is on alert as another hurricane approaches, quickly strengthening to Category 2 and is expected to make landfall Tuesday, forecasters said.
As of 2100 GMT, the storm was 90 kilometres (56 miles) from Punta Maldonado in southern Mexico, with sustained winds of 155 km/h (97 mph), according to the latest report from the US-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC).
” John is a category 2 hurricane […] It is expected to continue to strengthen rapidly and become a major cyclone as it approaches the coast,” it added.
The hurricane is expected to be classified as a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale (which has five), a level considered potentially destructive, by dawn on Tuesday.
According to the estimated trajectory, the center of the hurricane John is expected to make landfall in the sparsely populated Lagunas de Chacahua region of Oaxaca state, about 60 kilometers north of Puerto Escondido, a resort town of about 30,000 people.
State authorities advise the population to follow the recommendations of civil protection.
The phenomenon is expected to cause heavy rainfall in the neighboring state of Guerrero, which was hit by the hurricane on October 25, 2023. Otis category 5.
Otis devastated the seaside resort of Acapulco, leaving more than 40 dead and around 50 missing.
Mexican authorities are also monitoring a weather phenomenon on the Caribbean coast.
Across the country, the popular resorts of Cancun and Tulum are under threat from a tropical storm that is expected to make landfall Tuesday, according to the NHC.
Last July, the Mexican Caribbean was hit by Hurricane Berylwhich forced the evacuation of hundreds of tourists and caused the deaths of at least 18 people in the Caribbean islands, Venezuela and the United States.