Hurricane John punished Mexican ports and beaches with huge sea surges, heavy rains and strong winds on Thursday morning as the powerful storm swirled in the Pacific Ocean off the coast.
The dangerous category three hurricane may dump up to 0,2m of rain, causing landslides or flooding and had maximum sustained winds approaching 205kph, which can produce isolated storm surges along the Mexican coast of up to 6m, uproot trees and rip roofs off buildings.
Residents in the busy port of Manzanillo boarded up doors and windows, and those living along hills found emergency shelters as authorities warned that the town could be hit hard.
”They’ve said it’s going to be strong. We’re making sure nothing will happen to the shop, and then we’re going home,” said Juana Martinez (25), a clothes shop attendant, as she taped up windows and placed clothes in cardboard boxes.
The Mexican government said its hurricane warning extended from the southern steel-making port of Lazaro Cardenas up the Pacific coast to the tip of the Baja California peninsula, popular with tourists and yachtsmen.
At 2am local time on Wednesday, the centre of the hurricane whipped west-northwest at 22kph, parallel to the coast about 110km south-west of Manzanillo, and was expected to remain just offshore. It was about 580km south of the tip of Baja California.
Maximum sustained winds approached 205kph, giving the hurricane the punch capable of life-threatening flooding, mud slides in mountainous areas and severe damage to property.
Rainfall of 15cm to 25 cm, with isolated deluges of 45cm, was possible along the Pacific coast in the warning areas, forecasters said.
Tourists seek safety
Manzanillo hotels said the few tourists in the town — a commercial and fishing port and a haven for United States and Canadian fishermen — had left early, and others had cancelled bookings.
All the way up the coast emergency workers were on alert for mudslides and flash floods. Authorities feared John could make a direct hit later this week on Baja California.
Earlier, the busy tourist resort of Acapulco had sea surges of up to 3,5m. Seafront roads were ankle-deep in water and people struggled to stay on their feet in 215kph winds that knocked down trees. — Reuters