Mexico scrambled to evacuate thousands of people on Friday as one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded bore down from the Pacific Ocean, threatening to wreak catastrophic damage and spreading fear along the country's west coast.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Hurricane Patricia was the strongest storm ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere, and the World Meteorological Organization compared it to 2013's Typhoon Haiyan, which killed thousands in the Philippines.
Blowing winds of 200 mph (322 km/h), the Category 5 storm had the Pacific states of western Mexico on high alert, including Jalisco, home to the popular resort of Puerto Vallarta as well as Guadalajara, the second-biggest city in the country.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said Patricia would probably hit the coast between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. (2100 GMT-2300 GMT), most likely near the village of Punta Perula between Puerto Vallarta and the major cargo port of Manzanillo.
“This hurricane is an enormous worry,” said Patricio Flores, a trade union official from Jalisco. “We know they can demolish anything you put in their path.”
Pena Nieto said it was hard to predict what would be done by the massive storm, which could be seen from outer space.
“But one thing we're certain of is that we're facing a hurricane of a scale we've never ever seen,” he said in a local radio interview shortly before U.S. President Barack Obama said the United States was standing by ready to help Mexico.
Both Mexican and U.S. officials said the unprecedented hurricane could wreak catastrophic damage.
Roberto Ramirez, head of Mexico's federal water agency, said Patricia was so strong it could possibly cross the country and head over the Gulf of Mexico to the United States.
Writing from 249 miles (401 km) above earth aboard the International Space Station, U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly tweeted an imposing image of the giant storm, blanketing a significant portion of the globe in white cloud, along with the message: “Stay safe below, Mexico.”
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico said Patricia was seen as one of the most powerful and dangerous hurricanes in recorded history.
“If you are in the hurricane warning area, make preparations immediately to protect life and property,” it said.
Still, the NHC said the storm should weaken once it slams into Mexico's mountainous terrain.
HUNKERING DOWN
On the shores of Puerto Vallarta, the heart of a string of resorts that range from low-end mega hotels to exclusive villas attracting tech billionaires and pop stars, loudspeakers blared orders to evacuate hotels as light rain fell and a breeze ruffled palm trees. The streets emptied as police sirens wailed.
Federal water official Ramirez said 15,000 domestic and foreign tourists had been evacuated from Puerto Vallarta.
The government warned that ash and other material from the volcano of Colima, about 130 miles (210 km) from Puerto Vallarta, could combine with massive rainfall to trigger “liquid cement”-style mudflows that could envelop nearby villages.
In Punta Perula, expected to be the first place to feel the impact of the storm, local hotel worker Fernando said he and other staff had hunkered down in one of the rooms in the Hotel Estancia Dolphins, locking the door and shutting off lights.
In near darkness, they waited for the storm to arrive.
“The truth is, I'm very, very nervous,” he said. “This is going to get very ugly, and I'm sad I'm not with my family.”
Still, some visitors to Puerto Vallarta chose to adopt a more philosophical outlook.
“It's natural to be worried, and then you breathe and it's gone,” said Carolyn Songin, 52, a California resident visiting her friend Judith Roth, who owns a nearby yoga retreat.
Roth, a 66-year-old California native, said she would ride out the storm at Songin's “bunker-like” apartment. “We're set up, we have our food and water, and we're just going to be in meditation and sending prayers for the area,” Roth said.
By Friday afternoon, the Miami-based NHC said Patricia was located about 85 miles (137 km) southwest of Manzanillo, with maximum sustained winds of 200 miles per hour (321 kmh) as it moved north at 12 mph (19 kph).
Puerto Vallarta's airport and port were closed on Friday, while Manzanillo port was also shut. State oil company Pemex said service stations would stop selling gasoline in the hurricane-watch area.
Local schools were closed and some business owners were busy boarding and taping up windows. The Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) said it was carrying out electricity shutdowns in the states of Colima, Jalisco and Nayarit.
Long lines of traffic stretched out of Puerto Vallarta en route to Guadalajara, around a 5-hour drive inland to escape the storm, which the WMO said grew at an “incredible rate” in the past 12 hours.
“The winds are enough to get a plane in the air and keep it flying,” WMO spokeswoman Clare Nullis told a U.N. briefing in Geneva, likening Patricia to Typhoon Haiyan.
Haiyan killed over 6,300 people and wiped out or damaged nearly everything in its path as it swept ashore on Nov. 8, 2013, destroying around 90 percent of the city of Tacloban.
The strongest storm ever recorded was Cyclone Tip which hit Japan in 1979.
None of Pemex's major installations lie in the storm's projected path, but the company said it was taking measures to protect operations in Manzanillo and the port of Lazaro Cardenas.
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