Two dead as Hurricane John lashes Mexican coast bringing flooding and mudslides across several states

Hurricane John is unleashing heavy rains along Mexico’s southern Pacific coast as it moves inland, threatening dangerous flooding and causing at least two deaths in a mudslide.

Stretching across several Mexican states, the tropical storm uprooted trees and electrical posts and damaged roofs, officials told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday.

The affected area is home to cargo ports and some of the country’s top beach resorts. Officials said that around two-thirds of local power users were without electricity and phone service was also hit.

Video posted on social media showed sheets of rain pummeling empty streets overnight near the large Lazaro Cardenas port in Michoacan state as strong winds battered trees.

Further south in Oaxaca state, the Puerto Escondido and Huatulco airports popular with tourists were closed.

The two fatalities were reported in the small town of Tlacoachistlahuaca, in Guerrero state, located inland in between Puerto Escondido and Acapulco, a major beach resort that was devastated by Hurricane Otis last year.

Laura Velazquez, the national head of emergency services, said John could cause further “intense rainfall” over Guerrero, one of Mexico’s poorest states. She said accumulated rainfall so far had totalled nearly 28cm.

John was downgraded from hurricane strength to a still powerful tropical storm as it made landfall overnight, and is currently located about 113km northwest of Acapulco as it moves inland at a speed of 18 km/h, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

John is packing maximum sustained winds of 64 km/h, the Miami-based forecaster said in its latest advisory.

The centre flagged the possibility of life-threatening flash flooding across parts of southwestern Mexico over the next few days.

On Monday, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador urged residents to seek higher ground as the storm system approached.