Hurricane John dissipates into tropical depression after hitting Mexico’s Pacific coast, killing 2
- The storm was expected to batter Punta Maldonado and the nearby tourist hubs Acapulco and Puerto Escondido before being weakened over the high terrain inland.
- The storm is bleak news for the region, which was walloped by Otis, a similar rapidly intensifying hurricane, in 2023.
Hurricane John dissipated over Mexico on Tuesday after barreling into the country’s southern Pacific coast overnight, leaving two dead and a trail of destruction in its path.
Weakening into a tropical depression, John continued northwest of Acapulco at 3 mph as it dawdled along the coastal mountains, weakening further.
John grew into a Category 3 hurricane in a matter of hours Monday and made landfall about 80 miles east of Acapulco, near the town of Punta Maldonado, with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph. It was downgraded on Tuesday to a tropical depression with maximum sustained wind speeds of 35 mph , the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Mexican authorities discontinued all tropical storm warnings.
It blew tin roofs off houses, triggered mudslides and toppled scores of trees, officials said Tuesday.
Losses are estimated at $15 billion in Acapulco, the storied Mexican beach town that had fallen on harder times even before Hurricane Otis struck.
Evelyn Salgado, the governor of the coastal state of Guerrero, said two people died when the storm sent a mudslide crashing into their house on the remote mountain of Tlacoachistlahuaca (TLAH-ko-chis-tla-waka), further from the coast.
After warning of potentially catastrophic flash flooding and mudslides in some Mexican states, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said the main concern on Tuesday was flash floods in parts of southern and southwestern Mexico in the coming days.
Lincer Casiano Clemente, the mayor of the town of Marquelia, near where the hurricane landed on the coast, said early Tuesday that “there are a lot of houses, mainly the ones with sheet roofing, where the force of the air blew off the roofing.”
The mayor said no deaths or injuries had been reported in Marquelia so far, something he attributed to his ability to warn residents of the storm’s approach. But power was knocked out along large parts of the coast, and highways were blocked by fallen trees. The government said some 60,000 people remained without power.
Authorities in Mexico’s Los Cabos area have been warning people to stay inside because of heavy rains.
“We’ve never seen such strong gusts,” the mayor said. By Tuesday morning, people were out looking for food, he said.
Monday’s unexpected surge in strength caught forecasters, authorities and residents of the area by surprise, something AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Matt Benz attributed to warmer oceans, which add fuel to hurricanes.
As a result, surges in hurricanes’ strength have become increasingly common, Benz said.
“These are storms that we haven’t really experienced before,” he said. “Rapid intensification has occurred more frequently in modern times as opposed to back in the historical record. So that’s telling us there’s something going on there.”
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador warned residents of the area to be vigilant on Monday night and to bunker down in a safe place.
Hurricane Beryl made landfall on Mexico’s coast near the resort of Tulum as a Category 2 storm after leaving destruction across the eastern Caribbean.
“Seek higher ground, protect yourselves and do not forget that life is the most important thing; material things can be replaced. We are here,” López Obrador wrote on the social media platform X.
The storm is bleak news for the region, which was walloped by Otis, a similar rapidly intensifying hurricane, in 2023.
Otis devastated the resort city of Acapulco, where residents had little warning of the strength of what was about to hit them. One of the most rapidly intensifying hurricanes ever seen, scientists at the time said it was a product of changing climate.
Forecasters say Tropical Storm Ileana will move over the Gulf of California roughly parallel to the coast Sunday, weakening into a tropical depression.
Otis left residents without power , bodies scattered on the coast and desperate family members searching for lost loved ones. People scavenged in stores for food and water.
López Obrador‘s government received harsh criticism for its slow response to Otis, but authorities have since pledged to do better.
President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum said her government plans to work on improving an early alert system, similar to what the country has for earthquakes.
Cruz writes for the Associated Press. AP writer María Verza in Mexico City contributed to this report.
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