We are the world Mexico, we are the world!
(nbcnews.com) 10/24/15 - Hurricane Patricia weakened to a category 4 storm Friday, hours after slamming into southwestern Mexico and bringing lashing winds and rainfall that has the potential to create life-threatening flash floods.
The U.S. National Hurricane Centre warned that the hurricane, which was once clocking 200 mph winds and was being called the strongest storm ever recorded, remained "an extremely dangerous major hurricane."
The hurricane had winds of 130 mph and was about 85 miles north-northwest of Manzanillo as of 10 p.m. local time (11 p.m. ET), the hurricane center said.
Hurricane Patricia was a category 5 and had 165 mph winds when it made landfall near Cuixmala, west-northwest of Manzanillo, at 6:15 p.m. local time (7:15 p.m. ET). Palm trees bent and rain whipped in sideways as the storm made its first appearance on land.
"The winds are really strong. It's amazing, even the cars are moving," Laura Barajas, a 30-year-old hotel worker from the major cargo port of Manzanillo near where the storm hit, told Reuters.
Patricia's "potentially catastrophic landfall" would affect a stretch of coast between the popular tourist destinations of Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo, theWorld Meteorological Organization said. Hurricane force winds covered 35 miles, while tropical storm force winds extended 175 miles, according to the NHC.
More than 7 million people were in the storm's path. There were no initial reports of casualties Friday.
About 3,500 people were evacuated from the state of Jalisco, which encompasses Puerto Vallarta and the Guadalajara metro area, ahead of the storm, the government said. Aircraft were prepared to rescue people from the region on Saturday.
Jalisco Gov. Aristóteles Sandoval said Friday night that 6,333 people were in shelters and there was no loss of life reported.
Rainfall amounts of up to a foot in a short span of time between Friday night and Saturday over the Mexican states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán and Guerrero could trigger "life-threatening flash floods and mud slides," according to the hurricane center.
A strong storm surge, accompanied by massive waves, near the coast could intensify the flooding. The Mexican national water commission, CONAGUA, said waves could swell to up to 40 feet.
Hurricane Patricia quickly grew in intensity Thursday, and on Friday data from Air Force planes measured wind speeds of more than 200 mph, making it the strongest storm ever recorded.
At that point, the World Meteorological Organization compared the storm to Typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 6,300 people in the Philippines in 2013.
The storm weakened as it made landfall, but it was still the strongest to ever hit Mexico's west coast. Patricia is the third strongest storm in Mexico's history, said NBC meteorologist Bill Karins. (Full Story)
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