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Hurricane Erick is expected to strengthen rapidly into a major Category 3 storm, before making landfall on Mexico's Pacific coast on Thursday, Mexico's civil protection agency has said.

Staffing cuts could also threaten "hurricane hunter" flights – plane journeys into the storms as they approach land to inform preparations for landfall.

When news broke in the fall of 2017 that Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm, was bound to make landfall, Platt and his colleagues were terrified.

The storm had weakened by the time it made landfall near Brisbane on Saturday night, but Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Sunday warned locals of the continued wild weather and risks from flooding.

As the storm has edged closer to landfall, nearly 1,000 schools have closed, public transport has been suspended and airports are shut.