Hurricane Patricia hits Mexico’s Pacific coast

Saturday night into Sunday morning the remnants of Patricia will moving into southern and eastern Texas, as well as Mississippi and Louisiana.

“Even though Patricia is weakening quickly, strong and damaging winds at higher elevations could persist through this morning”, the hurricane center said. “We have nothing. My property’s gone”, said Ms Griselda Hernandez, looking at the space without walls or roof that used to be her home. Category 5 winds extended out only about 15 miles (25 kilometers) on either side of the eye and hurricane force winds only 35 miles (55 kilometers).

Patricia formed on Tuesday and quickly intensified to become a Category 5 monster, the most powerful hurricane on record in the Western Hemisphere. Puddles dotted the downtown district, but no more than a passing thunderstorm might leave.

Thousands of travelers are now making their way home after Hurricane Patricia made landfall causing Puerto Vallarta’s airport to shut down.

“Fortunately, nothing happened here”, Macedo said.

Residents of the coast where Patricia came ashore last night describe an enraged sea crashing into hotels, scooping beach away from their foundations, and howling winds that toppled trees and telephone posts. The areas they have not reached are blocked by downed trees.

The nearby cities of Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo were spared direct hits, and while a few damage has been reported in Manzanillo, Puerto Vallarta – one of Mexico’s major resort cities – was left nearly entirely unscathed. Warm waters, lack of wind shear and tall mountains in Mexico, Feltgen told ABC News on Saturday.

In its march north, Patricia was likely to make matters worse in Texas, which saw heavy rains overnight from a separate storm system that caused flooding powerful enough to knock over a freight train. The American Red Cross is readying volunteers and resources if called on for help by the Mexican Red Cross. On the forecast track, the center of Patricia is forecast to move across central and northeastern Mexico on Saturday, October 24.

The hurricane packed maximum winds of 200 miles per hour (320 kph) when it hit land, according to the United States National Hurricane Center as quoted by a BBC report.

The local governments of Colima and Jalisco, two of the states worst hit by the storm, said early Saturday that no deaths had been reported, according to Mileno and El Universal.

Mexico’s jagged mountain ranges in close proximity to the coast were also credited with breaking the hurricane’s force by disrupting the circulation of air in the storm.