Hurricane Erick moves inland after reaching Mexico as a Category 3 storm

Hurricane Erick pushed inland Thursday toward the resort city of Acapulco as a Category 1 storm, leaving flash floods and evacuations in its path along Mexico’s southern coast.

The storm made landfall as a Category 3 storm around 6 a.m. local time, in western Oaxaca, with winds around 125 mph – a slight weakening from its Category 4 status only a few hours earlier.

Even before it reached land, Mexican authorities had set up thousands of shelters, ordered some evacuations and put the region on high alert for a potentially debilitating storm. Two years ago, Hurricane Otis rapidly intensified into a Category 5 storm within hours – devastating the hotels, homes and port of Acapulco – and forecasters had feared that Erick might also have a sudden transformation.

It did not reach that strength, but authorities reported some damage Thursday morning as heavy rains battered the coastline. In Oaxaca state, a hospital, roads and electrical stations were among the damaged buildings. Landslides closed two highways, damaged homes and injured at least one man, according to emergency officials.

About 200 people had been forced by rising waters to go to shelters in Santiago Pinotepa Nacional, authorities said Thursday morning, and power and internet outages were reported in several cities in Oaxaca.

About 200,000 people live in the path of the hurricane in Oaxaca, officials said Thursday morning, although the storm is expected to continue losing speed as it approaches Acapulco.

Mexico’s Civil Protection authorities issued a red alert late Wednesday, indicating the highest level of danger for severe weather in parts of Oaxaca and the neighboring state of Guerrero.

In its latest advisory, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Erick was expected to bring 6 to 8 inches of rain in most places and up to 16 inches in some areas, mainly across Oaxaca and Guerrero. They warned that serious flooding was expected as were dangerous mudslides, especially in mountainous or hilly areas.

Extremely strong and damaging winds were also a hazard, and strong waves and swells were expected to affect the southern Mexican coast through Thursday.

“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,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a news conference Wednesday morning. “Anyone who has a boat should not go out.”

Erick was likely to weaken over the mountains of Mexico as it made its way inland and dissipate early Friday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

The center issued a hurricane warning along a roughly 300-mile stretch of coastline from Puerto Ángel in Oaxaca west to Acapulco, a resort city in Guerrero.

More than 2,000 temporary shelters were set up across Guerrero, Oaxaca and the nearby state of Chiapas, the Mexican government said in a statement as the storm approached.

On Wednesday, more than 100 residents in the Oaxacan community of Lagunas de Chacahua, mostly fishermen and tourism service workers, were sheltering in schools after being evacuated, said Cutberto Ruiz Jarquín, a meteorologist at Oaxaca’s risk management coordination office.

Erick also flooded the streets of Salina Cruz, a major seaport in Oaxaca, leaving cars stranded Wednesday. Police in Oaxaca and Guerrero were assisting drivers and removing rocks and branches from roads.

Before the storm’s arrival, some residents and store owners in Puerto Escondido boarded up windows and doors. Tourists were advised to stay in their hotels.

Schools were also closed for a second straight day in parts of Oaxaca, said Emilio Montero Pérez, director of the Oaxaca State Institute of Public Education.

Erick, which formed Tuesday, strengthened rapidly Wednesday and reached Category 4 status just before midnight after its maximum sustained wind speeds doubled.

The winds were strong enough to knock over trees, break branches and tear off roofs.

Erick is the fifth named storm to form in the Eastern Pacific Ocean this year. The Pacific hurricane season, like the Atlantic one, runs through Nov. 30.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.