Still, the Category 5 hurricane was no joke with heavy winds and rain, flash flooding and mudslides reported from the coastline.
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As of Saturday morning the National Hurricane Center demoted Patricia to a tropical depression (with 35 miles per hour sustained winds) as it traveled through the interior of Mexico towards Texas.
[Updated] While it bears no danger at all to Bermuda, the people of Mexico are not so lucky, with Hurricane Patricia bearing down on them carrying maximum sustained winds of a staggering 305km/h [190mph], which numerous worldwide reports said makes it the strongest hurricane ever recorded.
Storm damage in Houston as Hurricane Patricia moves throughThere have been reports of flooding and landslides but luckily, there’s no word of any fatalities or major damage.
Patricia formed suddenly on Tuesday as a tropical storm and quickly strengthened to a hurricane.
Mexico’s Secretary of Tourism, Enrique de la Madrid, said major tourist resorts like Puerto Vallarta had had “extraordinary luck” in avoiding damage from the once immensely powerful storm.
The low-pressure system dissipated further, but continued delivering torrential rain on vulnerable communities as it traveled over Mexico’s mountains.
While the storm lost power before coming ashore, its magnitude as a category 5 storm placed it in the strongest category on the Saffir-Simpson scale, a rare occurrence capable of causing massive destruction.
Mexican and global tourists board a bus to be transported to a shelter while bracing for the arrival of Hurricane Patricia in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Friday.
Officials were still trying to reach a few of the hardest-hit areas that were blocked by downed trees, and residents of towns nearest the strike said they had endured a bad night.
The storm was downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane early Saturday morning. So far though it seems initial reports are cautiously optimistic as major cities appear to have been largely spared, reports Reuters.
Municipal workers collect branches from a flooded street October. 23 in Manzanillo, Mexico. The storm was located about 35 miles (55 km) northeast of the central city of Zacatecas, moving north-northeast at 21 mph (34 kph), the centre said. But he said when Patricia made landfall south after 6 p.m., they began to relax. However, he added “we cannot yet let our guard down”. Forecasters said that even after Patricia breaks, up its tropical moisture will likely feed heavy rains already soaking the state.
The Philippines were not as fortunate when Super Typhoon Haiyan, with its 315 kilometers per hour winds, left more than 7,350 dead or missing when it struck in November 2013.
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The National Hurricane Center, a division of the U.S. National Weather Service, warned that a “potentially catastrophic landfall” was possible and recommended that Mexican residents in low-lying areas near the coast evacuate immediately.
