Mexico’s president has warned that Hurricane Patricia still poses a threat of floods and landslides as it brings heavy rain to parts of the country.
President Enrique Pena Nieto said Patricia – the strongest storm recorded in the Americas – had so far caused less damage than feared.
The US National Hurricane Centre said the hurricane hit as a Category Five storm – the highest classification.
It has since been downgraded to a Category Two tropical storm.
The storm touched down in western Mexico, bringing destructive winds and rain, but heavy damage appears to have been avoided.
The NHC said winds had decreased to 155 km/h (100 mph) as the storm weakened over land.
Patricia is now moving north-northeastward inland over northern Mexico.
The states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacan, and Guerrero are in particular danger as the storm moves inland, the centre says.
“The first reports confirm that the damage has been smaller than that corresponding to a hurricane of this magnitude,” Mr Pena Nieto said in a televised address.
Mexican federal police said only “minor landslides and fallen trees” had so far been reported in Colima.
But the government has warned that ash from the Colima volcano, which has become increasingly active this year, could combine with heavy rainfall to trigger huge mudflows.
Some 400,000 people live in vulnerable areas, according to Mexico’s National Disaster Fund.
BBC
