MEXICO-STORM/PATRICIA-JALISCO Residents of Mexico's Jalisco state clean-up after Patricia

Record ID: 135960

  • Title: MEXICO-STORM/PATRICIA-JALISCO Residents of Mexico's Jalisco state clean-up after Patricia
  • Date: 25th October 2015
  • Summary: CHAMELA, JALISCO STATE, MEXICO (OCTOBER 24, 2015) (REUTERS) MAN PICKING UP PIECES OF HOUSING MATERIAL FROM GROUND WIDE OF DESTROYED BAR VARIOUS OF MAN PICKING UP RUBBLE AND WIPING FRONT OF PLAQUE VARIOUS OF MAN WALKING ACROSS AREA AND PICKING UP ITEMS WIDE OF DESTRUCTION HELICOPTER FLYING OVERHEAD RESIDENTS WALKING AMONG RUBBLE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ARTURO MORFIN, CHAMELA
  • Embargoed: 9th November 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2IFH6QDIK8SAQCET6OKFB6BXJ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Hurricane Patricia caused less damage than feared on Mexico's Pacific coast on Saturday (October 24), but hammered an isolated part of the shoreline dotted with luxury villas and fishing villages, where the storm and its 165 mph (266 kph) winds landed.
    Thousands of residents and tourists fled the advance of the storm, one of the strongest in recorded history, seeking refuge in hastily arranged shelters.
    There were no early reports of deaths and it appeared major damage was averted as Patricia missed tourist centres like Puerto Vallarta and the major cargo port of Manzanillo.
    However, the storm carved through small rural villages, ripping corrugated metal roofing off modest brick homes and uprooting trees, with the forceful winds sucking the leaves off them.
    "I'm very sad. I saw my bar which my family and I built through much effort, and look at it. It's back here. It's destroyed. We're going to begin again but I am glad that, thank God, my family is okay and I thank God for them," said area resident Arturo Morfin, as he salvaged belongings from mangled debris of trash, household items and branches strewn across his hamlet of Chamela near the coast of Jalisco state, which took a direct hit.
    Nearby, furniture sat in the rubble of houses and power lines were knocked down in some of the worst damage electricity board repairmen had ever seen.
    Around three-quarters of some 50 modest homes in Chamela were wrecked. Residents had been evacuated to a shelter.
    Phone lines remain down where the storm hit in the nearby settlement of Cuixmala, the site of one of Mexico's most exclusive getaways located between Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta. It was unclear how bad the situation was there.
    Flooding streets and battering buildings, Patricia hit land as a Category 5 hurricane on Friday evening before grinding inland. It moved quickly but lost power in the mountains that rise up along the Pacific coast and was downgraded to a tropical depression on Saturday as it headed through central Mexico.
    Experts said the storm's speed meant it did not saturate the ground and trigger the major flooding feared. It was then broken up by high mountains, limiting the damage.
    At one point generating sustained winds of up to 200 mph (322 kph), Patricia was the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere. Even though it lost some power before coming ashore, it was still a Category 5 storm, the strongest on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. Such storms are relatively rare and are capable of causing devastating destruction.
    Patricia's ferocious core was relatively small, with hurricane force winds extending 35 miles (55 km.) from the centre, the U.S National Hurricane Center said. This meant Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo were spared the worst.
    Once inland, Patricia rapidly lost power. By Saturday afternoon, it had degenerated from a tropical depression into a remnant low with maximum winds down to about 30 mph (48 kph), the Miami-based Hurricane Center said.
    Patricia was located about 45 miles (72 km.) southwest of the city of Monterrey, heading northeast at 22 mph (35 kph), the centre said.
    It could, however, pose a flood threat, the NHC said.
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