"Historic" storm makes landfall in Mexico (Updated Saturday)

(New: 1st videos) Hurricane Patricia made landfall on the Pacific coast of Mexico with wind speeds of 265km /hour and then rapidly weakened. Earlier sustained winds of over 300 kilometres an hour made Patricia the strongest hurricane ever measured.

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17:00

It will be dawn soon in Mexico and soon we will be able to see the extent of the damage. Hurricane Patricia rapidly lost strength as it moved inland and was last listed as a category one hurricane, the lowest possible. It is expected to be further downgraded to a tropical storm and then a depression as the day progresses. Government officials are optimistic the damage has not been as bad as feared but it is too early to say.

Landfall: Saturday morning

Hurricane Patricia made landfall just after 6am Thailand time this morning. Here is an early report from AFP and I'll have updates as the damage situation becomes clearler.

Record-breaking Hurricane Patricia slams into Mexico

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Oct 23, 2015  AFP  –  The strongest hurricane ever recorded crashed into Mexico's Pacific coast on Friday, ratcheting up fears that super-storm Patricia will unleash death and destruction with its powerful winds and driving rain.

The hurricane made landfall in the town of Emiliano Zapata, about 95 kilometers west of the major port of Manzanillo, National Water Commission director Roberto Ramirez told Milenio television.

The US National Hurricane Center said Patricia weakened marginally at landfall, but was still packing maximum winds of 270 kilometers per hour.

It peaked at 325 kilometers per hour several hours earlier – even more powerful than the 315 kph winds of Super Typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 7,350 dead or missing when it struck the Philippines in November 2013.

The first videos have started to come in from coastal areas where the storm hit. They may be a bit before the main storm which hit only about one hour before sunset.

By l0am Thailand time it had reportedly "weakened" to a category four storm but that still means winds in excess of 200km/hour.

Authorities relocated coastal residents, closed ports and schools in several states and evacuated tourists from beach hotels before the category five monster hurricane made landfall in the western state of Jalisco.

People boarded up windows and bought water and food supplies as they hunkered down for the storm and urgently sought shelter.

You can see more up-to-date coverage here: 

http://www.weather.com/storms/hurricane

Includes US coverage: http://weathernationtv.com/on_tv/?play=1

Evening update

Add the word "behemoth" to adjectives being used to describe Hurricane Patricia. Winds at landfall may now exceed those of Typhoon Haiyan which killed more than 7,000 people in 2013. Storm surges of 10 metres or more look likely.

"Historic" storm nears Mexico

With sustained winds of over 300 kilometres an hour, Patricia, the strongest hurricane ever measured, is expected to make landfall on Mexico's Pacific coast early tomorrow morning Thailand time.

Meteorologists are using all their superlatives today in describing Hurricane Patricia which has intensified from category one (119-153 km/h) to category five (252 km/h or higher) in just 24 hours.

"Explosive", "potentially catastrophic", "the strongest storm ever measured on the planet", "a weather bomb" are just some of the terms being used today. 

Patricia is expected to remain at category five when it makes landfall and apart from extreme winds, she is expected to drop 20 inches of rain on the Mexican states of Jalisco, Colima, Michoacan and Guerrero through Saturday.

The storm will lose strength in the mountains but it will continue on, eventually dropping up to 12 inches of rain in the US state of Texas, forecasters say.

More later.

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