While everyone has been watching tropical storm Ernesto, a new and very powerful storm formed in the pacific ocean off the coast of Mexico. This powerful storm has been given the infamous name Hurricane John. This name is infamous as it has been used already to name a previous major hurricane in 1994. In 1994, Hurricane John formed over the eastern Pacific and grew into a hurricane on Aug. 11, with winds reaching 170 mph making it a devastating hurricane. This new hurricane John also has a lot of power with sustained winds of over 115 mph.

Hurricane John shares a lot with the old 1994 hurricane John. They are both major hurricanes of category 3 or higher. The current Hurricane John has the strength to become a category 4 or even 5 like its predecessor. And they both had potential to cause awesome damage. If the current hurricane John tracks to the right as predicted, the coastal areas of Mexico like Acapulco could be devastated by mudslides, flooding and powerful and deadly flash floods. It is important to note that the high winds and rain are not the worst part of the storm. Resultant flooding, mud slides and flash floods have caused some of the worst tragedies on record.

Hurricane John is right now situated off the cost of Mexico and is taking a north western track parallel to the coastline. Tracking indicates the potential to strengthen in the next 24 hours to a category 4 or even 5 storm with sustained winds of 130-150+. Remember that even though Hurricane Katrina was a category 5 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico at one time, it was only a category 3 when it made landfall and devastated New Orleans and Biloxi. Just think of what a category 4 or even 5 hurricane could do to a more indigenous population in Mexico. In the rural areas they have less transportation and means of evacuation available to them. To see what could happen, one just needs to look at the impoverished nation of Haiti near Cuba. They have experienced many powerful tropical storms and hurricanes over recent years and have tragically lost many lives.

Hurricane John could also create storm surges like we saw in Katrina. Storm surges of 10 feet or more in rural and indigenous areas can produce enormously tragic results like the Tsunami in Malaysia. Many a typhoon (a hurricane to the west of Hawaii) has caused huge death tolls and massive destruction larger than most of their Atlantic Ocean cousins. Due to the size and geography of the Pacific Ocean, hurricanes and typhoons grow stronger much faster and have fewer conditions that destabilize their growth like shearing winds in the east. China was recently hit by typhoon Samoi which had sustained winds of 170+ mph when it hit China. This was the worst storm to hit China in over 50 years.

Even though the Chinese evacuated over 1 million people beforehand there was still tragic loss of life and massive destruction. Hopefully for the people of Mexico the current hurricane John will track left and away from land and die out at sea