2024-09-24 19:21:22
Hurricane John formed in the Pacific on Monday and quickly became a Category 2 storm, putting Mexico’s southern coast on alert, where it is expected to make landfall on Tuesday, according to weather forecasts.
At 9:00 p.m. GMT, the storm was located 90 km from Punta Maldonado, Mexico, and was registering sustained winds of 155 km per hour, according to the latest report from the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).
“John is a Category 2 hurricane (…). It is forecast to continue to strengthen rapidly and is expected to become a major cyclone as it approaches the coast,” the center added in its report.
The storm is expected to gain strength and reach Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale (which goes up to 5) by dawn on Tuesday, a level that is considered potentially catastrophic.
According to the estimated trajectory, the center of John would make landfall on the coast of the Mexican state in the area of Lagunas de Chacahua, sparsely populated and located about 60 km north of Puerto Escondido, a seaside resort with about 30,000 inhabitants.
State authorities suggest that the population pay attention to the recommendations of Civil Protection.
The phenomenon is expected to cause heavy rainfall in the neighboring state of Guerrero (south), which on October 25, 2023 was hit by Hurricane Otis, a category 5 hurricane that devastated the resort of Acapulco, leaving more than 40 dead and about 50 missing.
Mexican authorities are also keeping an eye on a system forming in the Caribbean, which according to the NHC will reach at least tropical storm strength when it moves on Tuesday along the coast of the state of Quintana Roo, where the resorts of Cancun, the Riviera Maya and Tulum are located.
Last July, the Mexican Caribbean was hit by Hurricane Beryl, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of tourists and causing at least 18 deaths in Caribbean islands, Venezuela and the United States.
© Agence France-Presse
