‘Zombie’ Hurricane John regains strength in Pacific, flooding parts of Mexico’s southwestern coast

Towns along Mexico’s Pacific coast are dealing with torrential rain, flooding and landslides after “zombie” storm John strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane.

Towns along Mexico’s southwestern coast are dealing with torrential rain, flooding and landslides after tropical storm John strengthened back into a Category 1 hurricane on Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center. John is considered a “zombie” storm – a term referring to systems that dissipate before strengthening back into a storm. After slamming into Mexico as a deadly Category 3 hurricane on Monday night, it dissipated before returning as a hurricane, battering Mexico’s Pacific coast. Even after initially dissipating, remnants of the storm continued to move along the coast, bringing continuous rainfall. In the resort city of Acapulco, which still hasn’t fully recovered from the destruction of Hurricane Otis last year, several neighborhoods were flooded and residents in at-risk areas were told to evacuate to temporary shelters. Parts of the city have received over 500mm of rain this week, and 431mm over just the past 24 hours. A video posted on social media shows a taxi being carried away by the raging floodwaters with people still inside. The car eventually came to a stop and the passengers were carried away to safety by authorities nearby. Emergency workers have been deployed to the city with rafts and boats to rescue those trapped by the rising waters, Guerrero Governor Evelyn Salgado Pineda said. Officials have suspended operations at the Acapulco airport and schools across the state have been ordered to close until further notice.