Oct. 12 (AP) Hurricane Jova slammed into Mexico's Pacific coastas a Category 2 storm early Wednesday, swamping beach towns andcausing floods in the mountains above.

The storm toppled trees, knocked out power and flooded streetsin the major port city of Manzanillo, but the full extent of damagewas still unclear before dawn Wednesday. There were no immediatereports of deaths.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Jova's maximum sustainedwinds were near 100 mph (160 kph) when it hit, but it was weakeningsteadily as it moves inland and winds were down to 75 mph (140 kph)by 7 a.m (8 a.m. EDT; 1200GMT).

As the storm's leading rain bands began swatting at the coastTuesday night, heavy rain fell in Manzanillo, Mexico'ssecond-biggest non-oil cargo port. It was closed to navigationbecause of the storm.

Callers told local station Radio Turquesa that water was severalfeet (more than a meter) deep in some neighborhoods and schools,some used for shelters, were closed for the day.

The Hurricane Center in Miami warned that the storm surge couldcause significant coastal flooding along the 210-mile(340-kilometer) stretch between Manzanillo and Cabo Corrientes,which is southwest of the resort city of Puerto Vallarta.

Up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain could fall on isolatedareas as Jova moves inland, the center said.

Before nightfall Tuesday, marines visited flood-prone areas inManzanillo to advise people to leave. They found a home for elderlypeople whose homes were already flooded and evacuated dozens ofpeople to stay with relatives, Adm. Jaime Mejia said. Forty otherswere evacuated in the nearby town of Tecoman, he said.

Some people vowed to ride out the storm, while others tookrefuge at shelters in towns like Jaluco, just inland from the beachcommunity of Barra de Navidad.

“My house has a thatch roof, and it's not safe,” said Maria deJesus Palomera Delgado, 44, a farmworker's wife who went to animprovised shelter at a grade school in Jaluco, along with her 17children and grandchildren.

“The neighbors told us the house was going to collapse” if hitby the hurricane, she added as the children slept nearby on foldingcots packed into a classroom.

In an another classroom, migrant farmworker Rufina FranciscoVentura, 27, fed her 2-month-old son. She said she had left theranch where she plants chiles and tomatoes planning only to pick upsome free blankets, but shelter workers “told me I shouldn't leavehere, because it's going to hit hard.”

Jalisco state authorities evacuated about 200 people to sheltersby Tuesday and issued alerts over loudspeakers placed incommunities along the coast, telling people to take precautions asthe hurricane approached, state civil defense spokesman Juan PabloVigueras said. The state had 69 shelters ready, he said.

Authorities also set up shelters for residents of inland towns,where the mountainous terrain could cause flash floods andmudslides, which often pose the greatest dangers in hurricanes

The Mexican army said it had assigned about 1,500 soldiers tohurricane preparedness and relief efforts.

By dawn, Jova was centered about 30 miles (50 kilometers)south-southeast of Puerto Vallarta and it was moving to the northat about 9 mph (15 kph). It was expected to hit the states ofJalisco, Colima and Nayarit the hardest. About 183,000 people livein the center of the storm's projected path, said Laura Gurza,chief of the federal Civil Protection emergency responseagency.

The hurricane was expected to be dissipating by the time the PanAmerican Games start Friday in nearby Guadalajara.

A new tropical depression formed to the southeast, with maximumsustained winds near 35 mph (55 kph), and the Hurricane Center saidit could become a tropical storm later in the day. The system couldcause heavy flooding in southernmost Mexico and Guatemala.

The depression was centered about 135 miles (220 kilometers)southeast of Salina Cruz and was moving north near 5 mph (7 kph).The hurricane center said the depression's center was expected toapproach the coast Wednesday evening.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Irwin lost some strength farther outin the Pacific with winds near 40 mph (65 kph). While it wasexpected to move eastward toward land, forecasts indicated itprobably wouldn't make landfall.