Hurricane Erick is expected to strengthen rapidly into a major Category 3 storm, before making landfall on Mexico’s Pacific coast on Thursday, Mexico’s civil protection agency has said.
The storm, already a Category 2 hurricane, is likely to bring “potentially destructive winds and life-threatening flash floods” to parts of southern Mexico, according to the US National Hurricane Center.
Maximum sustained winds in the storm had risen to 175km/h (110mph) by Wednesday afternoon local time, with conditions favourable for it to intensify.
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum told people in the storm’s path to “stay tuned to official communications, to stay indoors, and not go out”.
Category 3 storms and above are considered major hurricanes, and pack wind speeds of at least 180km/h (111mph).
Erick is likely to make landfall between the states of Oaxaca and Guerrero, the head of Mexico’s civil protection agency Laura Velazquez said, with at least 50cm (20 inches) of rain expected to fall.
Mudslides are a risk in areas with steep terrain.
Around 2,000 shelters have been set up across the Mexican states of Chiapas, Guerrero, and Oaxaca, all on the country’s southern Pacific coast.
“If you are in low-lying areas, near rivers, near waterways, it is best for you to go to shelters, to the shelters that have already been set up for this situation,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said.
More than 18,000 first responders have been mobilised to prepare for the hurricane.
It is expected to be the first to make landfall in Mexico this season, which runs from the start of June to the end of November.
The hurricane’s impact was expected to be greatest on the Mexican coastline between Puerto Ángel, in Oaxaca, and Punta Maldonado, in Guerrero, authorities said.
In October 2023, at least 50 people were killed in Mexico during Hurricane Otis, a category 5 hurricane that battered Acapulco, also on Guerrero’s Pacific coast.
Otis intensified rapidly, meaning many people were unprepared when the hurricane made landfall.
