Category 3 John nears Baja California in Pacific

Story Highlights

• Category 3 Hurricane John nears Baja California

• Mexican officials tell 15,000 people to flee low-lying areas

• Maximum sustained winds near 115 mph

• Tourists huddle in hotel ballrooms

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CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (CNN) -- Hurricane John, packing winds near 115 mph (185 kph), approached Baja California, Mexico, Friday and was expected to arrive around 5 p.m. PT (8 p.m. ET), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

In the fishing mecca of Cabo San Lucas, at the tip of the peninsula of Baja California, authorities were preparing shelters for the possible evacuation of 30,000 people. All flights to the United States were nearly sold out, officials said.

Tourists who couldn't get flights out Thursday were huddling in hotel ballrooms there, CNN's Harris Whitbeck reported. (Watch crashing waves, evacuations along Mexico's Pacific coast - 1:33 )

Winds from a Category 3 storm, which is capable of extensive damage, extend outward up to 30 miles (45 kilometers).

As of 8 a.m. PT (11 a.m. ET), the Mexican government discontinued the hurricane warning for the Islas Marias. However, the southern Baja Peninsula from San Everisto southward on the east coast and from Bahia Magdalena southward on the west coast was still under a hurricane warning. (Path)

A hurricane watch remains in effect along the west coast of the Baja Peninsula from Bahia Magdalena to Punta Abreojos, according to the hurricane center, which is based in Miami, Florida.

Tropical storm warnings remained in effect for the central Baja Peninsula from Punta Abreojos southward to Bahia Magdalena on the west coast, and northward from San Everisto to Loreto on the east coast.

A tropical storm watch is in effect for the east coast of the Baja Peninsula from Loreto northward to Mulege.

Six to 10 inches of rain, and possibly up to 18 inches in places, will fall along the central west coast of Mexico and southern Baja. These rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides over mountainous terrain, the hurricane center said.

Coastal storm surge flooding of up to 5 feet above normal tides can be expected, along with large and dangerous waves, on the shores near the path of the hurricane's center, the center said.

Ahead of the powerful storm, government officials on Thursday ordered the evacuation of 15,000 people from low-lying areas on the Baja California Peninsula. (Full story)

John already has caused heavy flooding between the popular tourist destination of Acapulco and the city of Manzanillo to the northwest.

Some 10,000 residents were affected, including many in Acapulco, home to a million people, Mexican civil defense authorities told CNN.

In its 8 a.m. PT (11 a.m. ET) advisory, the center of the storm was about 95 miles (150 kilometers) southeast of the southern tip of Baja California and about 160 miles (255 kilometers) west-northwest of Las Islas Marias, Mexico.

John slowed overnight and was moving to the northwest at about 7 mph (11 kph), the hurricane center said.

A hurricane warning means hurricane conditions are expected within the warning area within 24 hours; a tropical storm warning means tropical storm conditions are expected within 24 hours.

John is the 10th named storm of the season in the eastern Pacific. Storms in the eastern Pacific are named separately from those in the Atlantic, the central Pacific or the western Pacific.

Last October, Hurricane Wilma pounded Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula with 125 mph winds and heavy rains. The Category 3 storm dealt a heavy blow to the tourism industry in Cancun, Cozumel and Playa del Carmen.

Meanwhile, in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Ernesto was downgraded to a tropical depression Friday, as strong winds and heavy rain made its way northward through North Carolina. (Full story)

On Friday, hurricane forecaster William Gray's team, based at Colorado State University, downgraded its 2006 Atlantic storm season forecast. (Details)

CNN's Chad Myers, Keith Oppenheim and Harris Whitbeck contributed to this report.