MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Authorities in Mexico prepared on Monday for the arrival of Hurricane John, which strengthened to a Category 2 storm off the country’s southern coast, according to the US-based National Hurricane Center.

The NHC warned that John’s center was forecast to move inland along the coast of southern Mexico on Monday night or early Tuesday, bringing “damaging hurricane-force winds, life-threatening storm surge and flash flooding” in parts.

Winds have already increased to nearly 100 miles (155 kilometers) per hour, it said, with stronger gusts.

“Rapid strengthening is forecast to continue, and John is expected to become a major hurricane as it approaches the coast of southern Mexico.”

By Monday afternoon, John was upgraded to a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which goes up to 5.

The Mexican government, said the NHC, has issued a hurricane warning from west of Punta Maldonado to east of Acapulco on the Pacific coast.

It said the hurricane conditions were expected to hit within the next 12 to 24 hours, with the worst of “possibly catastrophic” floods and mudslides expected in the states of Chiapas, Oaxaca and southeast Guerrero.

Areas near the coast were at particular risk, and there was likely to be “significant coastal flooding near and to the east of where the center makes landfall.”

“Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion,” the NHC said.