STORY: Residents of Mexican beach town of Puerto Escondido prepped on Wednesday night (June 18) for the arrival of Hurricane Erick.

Fishermen carried their boats towards safe ground and locals moved to shelters as pouring rain battered the beach.

Hurricane Erick made landfall on the coast of the state of Oaxaca on Thursday morning

(June 19), authorities said, potentially bringing intense rains and life-threatening floods and mudslides.

The storm made landfall around 5:30 am local time in the town of Santiago Pinotepa Nacional, in the state of Oaxaca, as a category 3 major hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 205 km/h and gusts of 250 km/h, Mexico's national water commission, Conagua, said.

Scientists have warned that Erick, the first hurricane to make landfall in Mexico this hurricane season, could become the most intense hurricane along Mexico's Pacific coast this early in the season, which runs from May to November.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

Mexico's western coast prepares for first hurricane of the season

VIDEO SHOWS: HEAVY RAIN / FISHERMEN CARRYING BOATS INTO STREETS / PEOPLE IN SHELTERS / SOUNDBITES FROM LOCALS

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

SHOWS: PUERTO ESCONDIDO, MEXICO (JUNE 18, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all) (NIGHT SHOTS)

1. VIEW FROM INSIDE VEHICLE OF TORRENTIAL RAIN FALLING ON STREET

2. VIEW FROM INSIDE VEHICLE OF ROAD SIGNS BEING HIT BY RAIN

3. VARIOUS OF RAIN SEEN FROM INSIDE VEHICLE

4. VARIOUS OF RAIN FALLING ON FLOODED BEACH, DEBRIS AND WAVES

5. FISHERMEN PREPARING TO CARRY BOAT

6. TRASH WASHED ONTO BEACH BY RAIN

7. FISHERMEN CARRYING BOAT OUT OF THE BEACH

8. VARIOUS OF TORRENTIAL RAIN BATTERING BEACH

9. VARIOUS OF FISHERMEN CARRYING BOAT TO PROTECT IT FROM HURRICANE

10. NATIONAL GUARD OBSERVING WAVES HITTING THE BEACH

11. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PUERTO ESCONDIDO RESIDENT, ARELY GARCIA, SAYING:

"As a precaution we were told to take preventive measures because it was a category two hurricane, and now it's risen to three. My house isn't safe and I have three children."

12. VARIOUS OF RAIN FALLING OVER SCHOOL USED AS SHELTER

13. PEOPLE STANDING NEXT TO CIVIL PROTECTION VEHICLE OUTSIDE SHELTER

PUERTO ESCONDIDO, MEXICO (JUNE 18, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

14. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE INSIDE SHELTER

15. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PUERTO ESCONDIDO RESIDENT, MARIA ESTHER FIGUEROA, SAYING:

"(I’m here) because my house is at risk, my house is made of wood with metal sheets, and where I live, water comes down from two streets and joins exactly there and it passes through my land. So I was afraid because I don't know, it's a cyclone, it's a hurricane, I don't know what it is."

16. TOURISTS STANDING ON BEACH

17. HIGH WAVES HITTING BEACH

18. WAVES HITTING CLIFFS

19. PERSON WALKING ON THE BEACH