This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/22/mexico-floods-hurricane-patricia-central-pacific-coast

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
Mexico prepares for floods as hurricane Patricia hits central Pacific coast Hurricane Patricia: Mexico braced for 'potentially catastrophic' storm
(about 7 hours later)
Hurricane Patricia bore down on Mexico’s central Pacific coast on Thursday for what forecasters said could be a devastating blow, and officials began handing out sandbags in preparation for possible flooding. Hurricane Patricia has grown into a “potentially catastrophic” category 5 storm as it bears down on Mexico’s central Pacific Coast.
Officials declared a state of emergency and handed out sandbags in preparation for flooding as steady rain began to fall in the area around the port of Manzanillo ahead of an expected landfall on Friday afternoon.
Related: Forget El Niño, start worrying about the North Atlantic blob
In Manzanillo, one of the country’s principal ports, Luz Adriana Limon Rojas, of Colima state’s civil defense agency, said skies were still calm, if cloudy, and no evacuation orders had been issued.In Manzanillo, one of the country’s principal ports, Luz Adriana Limon Rojas, of Colima state’s civil defense agency, said skies were still calm, if cloudy, and no evacuation orders had been issued.
But with the storm forecast to make landfall Friday as an extremely dangerous category four hurricane, neighborhood officials had begun picking up sandbags and Luis Felipe Puente, Mexico’s civil defense coordinator, said schools would be closed Friday in Colima. Luis Felipe Puente, Mexico’s civil defense coordinator, said schools would be closed in Colima state, which is home to Manzanillo.
The US National Hurricane Center in Miami warned that preparations should be rushed to completion, saying the storm could cause coastal flooding and flash floods. “We are calm,” said Gabriel Lopez, a worker at Las Hadas Hotel in the city. “We don’t know what direction (the storm) will take, but apparently it’s headed this way. ... If there is an emergency we will take care of the people. There are rooms that are not exposed to wind or glass.”
Patricia’s maximum sustained winds had increased Thursday to 130 mph (155kph) and forecasters said it could grow even stronger before slamming into land. The projected track would carry it to shore between Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta. The US National Hurricane Center in Miami warned that preparations should be rushed to completion, saying the storm could cause coastal flooding, destructive waves and flash floods.
Patricia was centered about 240 miles (385km) south-south-west of Lazaro Cardenas, with movement toward the west-north-west at 17 mph (28kph). “This is an extremely dangerous, potentially catastrophic hurricane,” meteorologist Dennis Feltgen said.
A hurricane warning was in effect for the Mexican coast from Cabo Corrientes to Punta San Telmo, a stretch of coastline that includes the port city of Manzanillo. A broader area was under hurricane watch, tropical storm warning or tropical storm watch. Luz Adriana Limon Rojas of Colima state’s civil defense agency said the area has problems with drainage during storms.
“The neighborhood leaders have come for sacks to fill with sand,” she said.
The federal government declared a state of emergency for 56 municipalities in the storm’s projected path in the states of Colima, Nayarit and Jalisco.
By late Thursday night, Patricia’s maximum sustained winds had increased to 160 mph (260 kmh) — a category 5 storm, the highest designation on the Saffir-Simpson scale used to quantify a hurricane’s wind strength.
Patricia was centered about 200 miles (320 kilometers) south-southwest of Manzanillo and was moving northwest at 13 mph (20 kph) on a projected track to come onshore between Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta sometime on Friday afternoon or evening.
Some weakening was forecast before then, but the hurricane center said it would still be “extremely dangerous” when it makes landfall.
A hurricane warning was in effect for the Mexican coast from San Blas to Punta San Telmo, a stretch of coast that includes Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta. A broader area was under hurricane watch, tropical storm warning, or tropical storm watch.
Related: Typhoon Koppu death toll reaches 54 as Philippines battles devastating floods
The hurricane center said Patricia was expected to bring rainfall of 15 to 30cm (6 to 12 inches), with even more in some locations. Tropical storm conditions were expected to reach land late Thursday or early Friday, complicating any remaining preparation work at that point.
Feltgen said Patricia also posedproblems for Texas. Forecast models indicate that after the storm breaks up over land, remnants of its tropical moisture will likely combine with and contribute to heavy rainfall that is already soaking Texas independently of the hurricane, he said.
“It’s only going to make a bad situation worse,” he said.