MEXICO CITY — 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.
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.
“Damaging hurricane-force winds, life-threatening storm surge and flash flooding are ongoing,” it warned.
“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.
“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.
A hurricane warning was in effect from east of Acapulco to Bahias de Huatulco on the Pacific coast.
