Inside a 'monster' of storm chase
Hurricane hunter who flew into monster Hurricane Patricia goes 'On the Record' on what he saw
Patricia-- packing 165 mile per hour winds and the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Western hemisphere-- made landfall early Friday evening on Mexico’s Pacific coast.
The storm made landfall around 6:30 p.m. local time along the coast of southwestern Mexico near Cuixmala, 55 miles west-northwest of port city of Manzanillo, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Mexican authorities received reports Friday evening of some flooding and landslides after the powerful storm came ashore in a relatively unpopulated stretch of Pacific coast.
Mexican Transportation Secretary Gerardo Ruiz Esparza told the Associated Press that officials have been bracing for the worst and are "not declaring victory" just yet.
Patricia's center made landfall in an area with few population centers. The nearest big city, Manzanillo, was outside the extent of the storm's hurricane-force winds.
TV news reports from the coast show some toppled trees, lampposts as well as flooded streets.
Patricia's projected path now takes it over a mountainous region dotted with isolated hamlets that are at risk for mudslides and flash floods.
Earlier on Friday, the hurricane center reported that the Category 5 storm's maximum sustained winds had grown to 200 miles per hour (mph), making it the strongest storm on record in the eastern Pacific and Atlantic. Patricia is expected to remain a Category 5 through landfall into Friday evening. Afterward, Patricia is expected to rapidly weaken over the mountains of Mexico.
"This is an extremely dangerous, potentially catastrophic hurricane," center meteorologist Dennis Feltgen said.
Underscoring the severity of the storm, President Obama tweeted a message of support Friday. "Our thoughts are with the Mexican people as they brace for Hurricane Patricia. USAID disaster experts are on the ground and ready to help," Obama said via Twitter.
Feltgen said Patricia also poses problems for Texas, which is bracing for a rare "back door storm" hitting the western part of the state first, unlike most Gulf hurricanes striking Texas from the southeast. Forecast models indicate that after the storm breaks up over land, remnants of its tropical moisture will likely combine with and contribute to heavy rainfall that is already soaking Texas independently of the hurricane, he said.
"It's only going to make a bad situation worse," he said.
Many parts of Texas, including Dallas and Houston, could see upward of 12 inches of rain by early Saturday. The U.S. National Weather Service said a flash flood watch would be in effect through Sunday morning for Dallas Fort-Worth, Austin and San Antonio, Texas. A coastal food warning was in effect through Friday night in Corpus Christi. Galveston was under a coastal flood advisory until Saturday night.
Director of Mexico's National Water Commission Roberto Ramirez says that Hurricane Patricia is powerful enough to lift up automobiles, destroy homes that are not sturdily built with cement and steel and will be able to drag along people caught outside when the storm strikes.
Oct. 23, 2015 -Residents prep for Hurricane Patricia filling sandbags to protect beachfront businesses in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Patricia barreled toward southwestern Mexico Friday as a Category 5 storm, the strongest ever in the Western Hemisphere. Locals and tourists were either hunkering down or trying to make last-minute escapes.
Patricia's power was comparable to that of Typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 7,300 dead or missing in the Philippines two years ago, according to the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization.
Patricia is relatively small with hurricane-force winds only extending 30 miles from the eye, but catastrophic damage is expected to occur near the landfall point.
Rainfall near the coast and inland could reach 8 to 12 inches, with isolated amounts topping 20 inches, likely causing destructive waves, flash flooding and mudslides. Forecasters warned that preparations should be rushed to completion.
The storm now holds the record for lowest pressure in any hurricane on record, The Weather Channel says. With a minimum central pressure of 880 millibars, Patricia broke the record of 882 millibars set by Wilma almost exactly 10 years ago.
The storm's rapid growth left authorities in Mexico scrambling to make people safe. Local officials declared a state of emergency in dozens of municipalities in Colima, Nayarit and Jalisco states that contain the bustling port of Manzanillo and the posh resort of Puerto Vallarta. The governor of Colima ordered schools closed on Friday.
Three airports in Patricia's path were shut down: Puerto Vallarta; Manzanillo, in Colima state; and Tepic, in Nayarit.
Locals and tourists were either hunkering down or trying to make last-minute escapes. The lobby of the Sheraton Hotel in Puerto Vallarta was bustling Friday morning, with a long line of people forming to check out. More than 900 guests had rooms at the hotel the previous evening, but many wanted to get out of town before the storm arrived.
About 200-300 people were waiting at Puerto Vallarta's convention center Friday afternoon for buses to take them to safety ahead of Patricia. Miscommunication led several hotels to bring guests there. The building features large glass panels that could be deadly given the storm's high winds, and the center was not prepared to take them.
Steve Routson of Tacoma, Wash., had one more day left on his vacation with 17 friends who have been meeting up here for years. They rode out another hurricane in their hotel in 2002 but have kept returning. Staff from their hotel was at the center waiting with them Friday. He added that they were being taken to a shelter on a university campus.
Residents of a stretch of Mexico's Pacific Coast dotted with resorts and fishing villages boarded up homes and bought supplies. In Puerto Vallarta, locals reinforced homes with sandbags and shop windows with boards and tape, and hotels rolled up beachfront restaurants. The airport was closed to all flights and all but deserted, but lines formed at a bus station by people anxious to buy tickets to Guadalajara and other inland destinations.
Oct. 23, 2015 - Image released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Hurricane Patricia moving over Mexico's Pacific Coast. Patricia headed toward southwestern Mexico as a Category 5 storm, the strongest ever in the Western Hemisphere. (NOAA via AP)
For Jose Manuel Gonzalez Ochoa, owner of chicken restaurant Ochoa Pollos, that made up his mind. His family lives in their ground-floor chicken restaurant, Ochoa Pollos, and neighbors told them water was 5 feet deep in the street the last time a hurricane came through.
"We're better off heading up there already," Gonzalez Ochoa said, mentioning a town 30 minutes from the coast. "The whole government is telling us to leave. You have to obey."
At a Wal-Mart in Manzanillo, shoppers filled carts with non-perishables as a steady rain fell outside. Alejandra Rodriguez, shopping with her brother and mother, was buying milk, a large jug of water and items like tuna and canned ham that do not require refrigeration or cooking. The family already blocked the bottoms of the doors at their home to keep water from entering.
Manzanillo's "main street really floods and cuts access to a lot of other streets. It ends up like an island," Rodriguez said.
The Fox Weather Center and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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