Hurricane Erick strengthened in the Pacific Ocean and could become a major hurricane before striking Mexico, the National Hurricane Center warned.

Hurricane Erick powered up into a Category 3 major hurricane Wednesday evening as it bore down on the southern Mexico coast, threatening to unleash destructive winds, flash floods and a dangerous storm surge on the region in coming hours,

Hurricane Erick strengthened into an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, cautioning that further strengthening could occur before landfall.