Hurricane Carlotta was elevated to a Category 2 storm, packing sustained winds of 105 mph ahead of landfall Friday night on Mexico's Pacific Coast, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center reported.
"The wind is incredible and the trees are swaying so much. A window just shattered," Ernesto Lopez, an engineer who was visiting Puerto Escondido in Oaxaca state for a graduation, told The Associated Press.
Coral Ocampo, a receptionist at the Hotel Careyes, told the AP the wind was tearing down the thinner palm trees. She said she had called and emailed guests to return to their rooms and stay there until the storm passed.
Carlotta had been a Category 1 hurricane with 85 mph winds earlier Friday.
"Some additional strengthening is possible this evening, followed by weakening as the center moves along the coast," the center said in an advisory.
Mexico issued a hurricane warning for areas between Acapulco and Salina Cruz. Hurricane-force winds reached 30 miles from Carlotta's center.
Flash floods and mudslides were feared with the forecast of 3-5 inches of rain in Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas -- and the possibility of up to 15 inches in some spots.
Carlotta, which was a tropical storm Thursday, is the first hurricane and the third named storm of the 2012 Pacific hurricane season.