Little damage reported as record-breaking Hurricane Patricia loses force over Mexico

[phantom power]

rricane Patricia was downgraded Saturday to a tropical depression, but there was still a potential danger for flooding and mudslides after it slammed through Mexico’s west coast as a record-setting storm.

Mexico had braced for the worst after winds of more than 200 mph were measured, making Patricia the strongest storm recorded in the Western Hemisphere. Patricia made landfall Friday in a lightly populated area along Mexico's Pacific coast but avoided direct hits on the resort city of Puerto Vallarta and the major port city of Manzanillo.

Early reports showed minimal damage along the coast, though rains were continuing and flooding was considered a danger. Airports in Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara, Tepic and Colima reopened after being closed Friday.

Reports circulated on social media of damage in Cihuatlan, near the coast of Jalisco and the Barra de Navidad beach, but officials minimized the impact. Photos on Twitter showed some flooding in the small town, and people standing next to ruined street stalls.

Omar Rojas from the local Civil Protection office said the most serious damage was that a few stalls lost their roofs, and some trees were uprooted.

“There’s been no loss of life,” Rojas said via telephone. “The river is high and there has been some flooding, but nothing very serious.”

http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-mexico-hurricane-patricia-20151024-story.html

[Warpy]

1. The government sent buses to the fishing villages and small resorts

between Manzanilla and Puerto Vallarta and people were wise enough to board them and get out. Mexico's west coast gets hit often enough that "the worst storm in history" was taken seriously. That there are no reported deaths yet from this one is amazing, still.

This is how it should be, infrastructure provided so people can escape. Cuba does this. Mexico does this. Why don't we?

Oh, right, we've got wars to fight.

[lpbk2713]

2. Glad it worked out this way.

It could have been a hell of a lot worse.