One of the strongest hurricanes in history lashed western Mexico with wind and rain early on Saturday, sowing chaos in coastal towns and popular tourist resorts although early reports showed it causing less damage than feared.
Mowing down trees, flooding streets and battering buildings, Hurricane Patricia ploughed into Mexico as a Category 5 storm on Friday before grinding inland, where it began to lose power in the mountains that rise up along the Pacific coast.
Around 15,000 tourists were hurriedly evacuated from the beach resort of Puerto Vallarta as people scrambled to get away from the advancing hurricane, whose massive swirl over Mexico could be seen clearly from space.
"It sparked chaos here, it ruined a lot of things, took down the roof, lots of trees. Things are in a bad state where we work," said Domingo Hernandez, a hotel worker in the resort of Barra de Navidad near to the major port of Manzanillo.
In this handout from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Hurricane Patricia is seen churning in the Pacific on October 23, 2015. (Getty( Source: Getty Images
Thousands of residents and tourists ended up in hastily improvised shelters but there were no early reports of fatalities and many felt they had escaped lightly.
At one point generating sustained winds of 200 miles per hour (322 km per hour), Patricia was the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere.
It then lost much of its power as it careened onto Mexican soil northwest of Manzanillo and by early on Saturday it had been downgraded to a Category 2 storm with winds of up to around 100 mph.
In a brief televised address late on Friday, President Enrique Pena Nieto urged Mexicans to remain watchful and take precautions, warning that the storm which weather forecasters had said could cause catastrophic damage still posed a serious risk.
"The initial reports confirm that damage has been less than would be expected of a hurricane of this magnitude," Pena Nieto said. "But we cannot lower our guard yet."
The government cautioned that ash and other material from the volcano of Colima, some 130 miles (210 km) from Puerto Vallarta, could combine with heavy rainfall to trigger liquid cement-style mudflows that could smother nearby villages.
Patricia became a tropical storm in the Pacific on Thursday, strengthened rapidly as it closed in on the coast and prompted meteorological authorities to compare it to Typhoon Haiyan, which killed over 6,300 people in the Philippines in 2013.
Patricia flooded parts of Puerto Vallarta, though the resort escaped the worst of the storm and dozens of tourists were able to leave shelters and return to their hotels on Friday night.
"I don't think there's going to be a big problem with the water," said Dario Pomina, 43, manager of the Posadas de Roger hotel in the city center. "Things are more or less okay."
Looking down on Patricia around 249 miles (401 km) above Earth on the International Space Station, U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly on Friday tweeted: "Stay safe below, Mexico."
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Patricia could weaken to a tropical storm by Saturday morning. At around 1 a.m. local time the storm was about 135 miles southwest of the city of Zacatecas and moving north-northeast at 20 mph.
'The most dangerous storm recorded in the Western Hemisphere'
The US National Hurricane Center said the Category 5 storm was the strongest ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere, and the World Meteorological Organization compared it to 2013's Typhoon Haiyan, which killed thousands in the Philippines.
Ramping up their warnings as the storm drew closer, Mexican officials said the unprecedented hurricane could wreak catastrophic damage.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said it was hard to predict what damage would be done by the massive storm, which could be seen barreling into Mexico from outer space.
Hurricane Patricia Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
"But one thing we're certain of is that we're facing a hurricane of a scale we've never ever seen," he said in a radio interview.
Mexican and US officials said the unprecedented hurricane could wreak catastrophic damage.
Roberto Ramirez, head of Mexico's federal water agency, said Patricia was so strong it could possibly cross the country and head over the Gulf of Mexico to the United States.
Writing from 401 kilometres above Earth on the International Space Station, US astronaut Scott Kelly tweeted an imposing image of the giant storm, blanketing a significant portion of the globe in white cloud, along with the message: "Stay safe below, Mexico."
"If you are in the hurricane warning area, make preparations immediately to protect life and property," the US Embassy in Mexico.
Weakened before hitting the coast
It had earlier packed winds of 322 km/h, but made landfall on Mexico's Pacific Coast with maximum sustained winds estimated at 265 kph, the US National Hurricane Center said.
Mexico's meteorological service said Patricia made landfall at Playa Perula in the state of Jalisco.
"The truth is, I'm very, very nervous ... This is going to get very ugly and I'm sad I'm not with my family," said local hotel worker Fernando as he and other staff hunkered down in a room at the Hotel Estancia Dolphins in Punta Perula, locking the door and bracing for the storm's arrival in near darkness.
Meanwhile, charity group Oxfam is already preparing to respond to the disaster with clean drinking water and medical supplies.
Oxfam's Country Director in Mexico told SBS World News they are expecting many areas to be severely impacted..
"People are all anxious about hearing news from the coast. We're expecting floods, we're expecting landslides," she said.
Thousands evacuated
The Pacific states of western Mexico have been on high alert, including Jalisco, which is home to the popular resort of Puerto Vallarta as well as Guadalajara, the second-biggest city in the country.
Federal officials said 15,000 domestic and foreign tourists had been evacuated from Puerto Vallarta.
It has the potential to cause death and destruction over a large swath of the nation, including favourite tourist spots for Australian travellers including Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo and Acapulco.
Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade warned on its Smart Traveller website that "excessive rainfall, violent winds, and storm surges may cause flash flooding and landslides, which may lead to transportation and communications problems".
"You should monitor local news and weather reports, follow the advice of local authorities, and contact your travel agent or tour operator to determine whether the situation will disrupt travel arrangements," DFAT warned.
DFAT recommends Australians delay all travel to affected areas until local authorities confirm it is safe to do so Source: DFAT
"We continue to advise Australians to exercise a high degree of caution in Mexico."
Emergency and medical care, as well as water and food supplies, could be affected.
Volcano mudflows could destroy villages
The government warned that ash and other material from the volcano of Colima, about 210 km from Puerto Vallarta, could combine with massive rainfall to trigger "liquid cement"-style mudflows that could envelop nearby villages.
Puerto Vallarta's airport and port were closed on Friday, while the major cargo port of Manzanillo was also shut. State oil company Pemex said service stations would stop selling gasoline in the hurricane-watch area.
Local schools were also closed and some business owners were busy boarding and taping up windows. The Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) said it was planning electricity shutdowns around 1 p.m. in the states of Colima, Jalisco and Nayarit.
Traffic stretched way out of Puerto Vallarta en route to Guadalajara, which is Mexico's second-biggest city and around a 5-hour drive inland.
People protect their home and commercial establishments against the imminent arrival of Hurricane Patricia, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Source: AAP
"The winds are enough to get a plane in the air and keep it flying," WMO spokeswoman Clare Nullis told a U.N. briefing in Geneva, likening Patricia to Typhoon Haiyan.
