Patricia, the strongest hurricane ever recorded at sea, approached Mexico's Pacific coast with such ferocity that one official predicted it would become the most dangerous storm in history. Thousands were evacuated from luxury beach resorts long before the powerful Category 5 storm touched down Friday evening near Cuixmala in southwestern Mexico. Its 165-mph winds uprooted trees and dropped power lines. The hurricane center's final advisory on what had been described as a possible catastrophic storm came hours after Patricia had been downgraded to a tropical depression(A tropical depression forms when a low pressure area is accompanied by thunderstorms that produce a circular wind flow with maximum sustained winds below 39 mph. Most tropical
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Mexico apparently dodged a bullet. For now, there are no confirmed reports of storm related fatalities or major damage. Two people died and four people were reported missing in Autlán in Jalisco state, Red Cross representative Andres Gomez says. One death was the result of a heart attack, the cause of the other is unclear, according to Gomez. Serious flooding and mudslide threats remained. In the coastal municipality of Cihuatlan, not far from where Patricia made landfall, Dr. Antonio Abad tended to more than two dozen patients who suffered cuts from falling branches and chunks of rooftops. But he marveled there weren't more serious injuries. More than 10,000 people, including local residents and tourists, were evacuated to safe areas. Mexico's meteorological agency reported that more than 11 inches of rain had fallen by early Saturday near the inland Nevado de Colima volcano in Jalisco, and forecasters said 8 to 20 inches of rain could fall in several Mexican states. Patricia was expected to be a huge challenge for the nation, said Anthony Perez, a representative of Save the Children in Mexico City. "We have these wonderful luxurious tourist destinations, but then there's half the population that's living in different degrees of poverty," he said. "A lot of these homes,
Mexico apparently dodged a bullet. For now, there are no confirmed reports of storm related fatalities or major damage. Two people died and four people were reported missing in Autlán in Jalisco state, Red Cross representative Andres Gomez says. One death was the result of a heart attack, the cause of the other is unclear, according to Gomez. Serious flooding and mudslide threats remained. In the coastal municipality of Cihuatlan, not far from where Patricia made landfall, Dr. Antonio Abad tended to more than two dozen patients who suffered cuts from falling branches and chunks of rooftops. But he marveled there weren't more serious injuries. More than 10,000 people, including local residents and tourists, were evacuated to safe areas. Mexico's meteorological agency reported that more than 11 inches of rain had fallen by early Saturday near the inland Nevado de Colima volcano in Jalisco, and forecasters said 8 to 20 inches of rain could fall in several Mexican states. Patricia was expected to be a huge challenge for the nation, said Anthony Perez, a representative of Save the Children in Mexico City. "We have these wonderful luxurious tourist destinations, but then there's half the population that's living in different degrees of poverty," he said. "A lot of these homes,