The US National Hurricane Center said Patricia was “potentially catastrophic”.
Advertisement
“Patricia is a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale”, the Hurricane Center wrote in an online bulletin. The governor of Colima ordered schools closed on Friday, when the storm was forecast to make what the Hurricane Center called a “potentially catastrophic landfall”.
Fueled by near-record warm ocean water and favorable atmospheric conditions, Hurricane Patricia has become the strongest hurricane ever measured – period – with maximum sustained winds at an astonishing 200 miles per hour.
People in Mexico braced themselves for days of flooding and no electricity as Hurricane Patricia churned toward the southwestern part of the country.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami warned that preparations should be rushed to completion, saying the storm could cause coastal flooding, destructive waves and flash floods.
On Thursday morning, Patricia was a Category 2 hurricane. How are you preparing for Hurricane Patricia? “Given the very mountainous terrain that Patricia should encounter after landfall, the cyclone should weaken even faster over land than predicted by the normal inland decay rate”.
Satellite image taken at 8:45 p.m. EDT on Thursday, October 22, 2015, shows Hurricane Patricia, left, moving over central Mexico’s Pacific coast.
The projected track would carry it onshore between Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta. A hurricane warning was also in effect for the tourist resort of Puerto Vallarta.
Advertisement
Luz Adriana Limon Rojas of Colima state’s civil defense agency said the area has problems with drainage during storms and neighborhood leaders have come for sacks to fill with sand. “We are expecting something bad, but maybe nothing will happen”, Estreda said. It appears we will soon have the first 200-mph operational hurricane intensity in my 17 years as a professional meteorologist. At least 7,300 people were killed or went missing in that storm.
