The strongest hurricane ever recorded in history, Hurricane Patricia, made landfall on Mexico’s Pacific coast Friday evening. Its barged barged into southwestern Mexico near Cuixmala at a speed of 165 mph, officials stated. Patricia made landfall hours earlier as a Category 5 storm, the fiercest recorded.
The excessive wind speeds, according to the head of the Mexican agency that includes its national weather service, could make Patricia the most dangerous storm in his nation’s history.
However, Hurricane Patricia weakened to a Category 4 storm Friday night with its speed reduced to a maximum sustained winds of 130 mph, but it remained “extremely dangerous” over southwestern Mexico, the National Hurricane Center said.
Despite weakening Patricia lashed the coast with fierce winds and rain as residents and tourists in resorts such as Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo sought shelter.
Patricia landed about 55 miles west-northwest of Manzanillo, home to the largest container port on Mexico’s Pacific seaboard.
Despite the slight weakening, damage from the Category 5 storm is expected to be devastating. Patricia hit luxury resorts and impoverished fishing villages with equal ferocity.
It struck land near Cuixmala, a 25,000-acre private estate of beach, jungle, nature reserve and fruit plantations that was once home to the late British billionaire James Goldsmith, according to the estate’s website. Its Moorish-style villas, with rates starting at $900 a night, have hosted visitors such as Richard Nixon and Ronald and Nancy Reagan.
Anthony Perez, a representative of Save the Children in Mexico City, said dealing with Patricia will be a huge challenge for Mexico’s government.
“We have these wonderful luxurious tourist destinations but then there’s half the population that’s living in different degrees of poverty,” he said.
Mexico’s National Commission for Water, CONAGUA, said the eye of Patricia has a diameter of 10 kilometers, or 6.21 miles.
Patricia looks to be more powerful than that storm, as well as stronger than Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Katrina in 2005 and many others. The closest storm to its size might be Hurricane Camille, which battered the U.S. Gulf Coast in 1969.
Patricia’s intensity is comparable to Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines in 2013, the World Meteorological Organization tweeted.
The midday Friday central pressure of 879 millibars (the barometric pressure equivalent is 25.96 inches) recorded “is the lowest for any tropical cyclone in the world for over 30 years,” according to the British Met Office.
