PUERTO ESCONDIDO, Mexico, Sept 24, (AP): Hurricane John struck Mexico’s southern Pacific coast with life-threatening flood potential after growing into a major hurricane in a matter of hours. It came ashore near the town of Punta Maldonado late Monday night as a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (190 kph).

John’s rapid intensification made authorities rush to keep pace and warn people of its potential destruction. "Seek higher ground, protect yourselves and do not forget that life is the most important thing; material things can be replaced. We are here,” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wrote on the social media platform X.

By early Tuesday, John had weakened to a Category 2 hurricane with 100 mph (160 kph) maximum sustained winds, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. It was expected to batter Punta Maldonado and the nearby tourist hubs Acapulco and Puerto Escondido before being weakened over the high terrain inland.

The center said before landfall that "life-threatening” storm surges and flash floods were already ravaging the Pacific coast near Oaxaca. The unexpected surge in strength caught scientists, authorities and residents of the area by surprise, something AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Matt Benz attributed to warmer oceans, which add fuel to the hurricanes.

As a result, surprise 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.”

Residents were tense in Oaxaca’s coastal cities as the forecast shifted and authorities responded. Laura Velázquez, the federal coordinator of civil protection, told residents of Pacific coastal cities they should evacuate their homes and head to shelters in order to "protect theirs and their family's lives.”