Once Powerful Hurricane Quickly Weakens

Patricia was last located about 185 miles (295 km) south-southwest of the port of Manzanillo, where a hurricane warning had been issued.

Thousands of residents and tourists along the coast had fled the storm’s advance and ended up in improvised shelters.

But it warned that the “heavy rain threat” will increase Saturday evening across the northeast and into coastal parts of the U.S. state of Texas.

“You had to feel how the air trembled”, said Yael Barragan, a trucking service coordinator in the port city of Manzanillo, huddled in his home with five children and four other adults. It threatened to be one of the most devastating storms in history as it neared landfall with record sustained winds of 200mph. Patricia struck about 55 miles west-northwest of Manzanillo, Mexico’s busiest container port. Howling winds toppled trees and telephone posts.

“All the streets here in town are full of downed trees all over the place”, said Hernandez, who described Patricia as the strongest storm he’s seen in a quarter century of living on the coast.

People snapped selfies next to a sculpture overlooking the sea and business owners swept sidewalks as they would on any morning. Plus the rain could cause more damage in Mexico’s mountainous areas.

Reports note a high possibility for the hurricane to become quite unsafe as it makes landfall.

“Even though the storm has been downgraded, this is a heavy, heavy rainfall event”, he said.

Hurricane Patricia continues to weaken, dropping to a Category 1 storm as it crosses Mexico.

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.

“We are patrolling communities on the coast in the Puerto Vallarta area as well as Melaque and La Huerta, urging the most vulnerable population to get to safety”, Jalisco state civil protection director Jose Trinidad Lopez Rivas told Foro television.

That such a monster storm could inflict so little harm seemed wondrous.

Despite the catastrophic force that Patricia slammed onshore with, the Associated Press reports there is no word of deaths or major damage as of early Saturday morning.

Hurricane devastation is often due more to a combination of unfortunate circumstances rather than the sheer size of the storm. The storm was homing in on a Pacific coastline dotted with sleepy fishing v…

“There are a few mountains that served as a barrier, and that at the end of the day is what prevented the winds from having to come through here”, said Enrique de la Madrid, Mexico’s Secretary of Tourism.

But the US National Hurricane Center said Patricia was still forecast to dump up to half a metre of rain.

As it moved further inland through the night, Patricia was gradually downgraded to category one, with 120 kph winds, the center said, adding that Patricia was “rapidly weakening over Mexico”.