MONSTER AT THE BACK DOOR Giant Hurricane Patricia set to slam Mexico — will it hit US Southwest?

MONSTER AT THE BACK DOOR Giant Hurricane Patricia set to slam Mexico — will it hit US Southwest?
store.coffeecounty-tn.com

Forecasters say Hurricane Patricia has grown into the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Western hemisphere, packing 200 mile per hour winds, and expected to dump up to a foot of rain likely to cause flash floods and mudslides when it makes landfall on Mexico’s Pacific coast late Friday.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami reported that the Category 5 storm’s maximum sustained winds had grown to 200 miles per hour (mph), making it the strongest storm on record in the eastern Pacific and Atlantic.

“This is an extremely dangerous, potentially catastrophic hurricane,” center meteorologist Dennis Feltgen said.

Feltgen said Patricia also poses problems for Texas, especially the western part of the state which is bracing for a rare “back door storm” hitting the western part of the state first, unlike most Gulf hurricanes striking Texas from the southeast. 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.

Director of Mexico’s National Water Commission Roberto Ramirez says that Hurricane Patricia is powerful enough to lift up automobiles, destroy homes that are not sturdily built with cement and steel and will be able to drag along people caught outside when the storm strikes.

Patricia’s power was comparable to that of Typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 7,300 dead or missing in the Philippines two years ago, according to the U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization.

Patricia was centered about 145 miles southwest of the Pacific resort of Manzanillo early Friday and was moving northwest at 12 mph on a projected track to come ashore between Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta sometime Friday afternoon or evening.

Some weakening was forecast before then, but the Hurricane Center said the storm would still be “extremely dangerous” when it makes landfall. Patricia is relatively small with hurricane-force winds only extending 30 miles from the eye, but catastrophic damage is expected to occur near the landfall point. Hurricane Warnings are posted from San Blas to Punta San Telmo.

Rainfall near the coast and inland could reach 8 to 12 inches, with isolated amounts topping 20 inches, likely causing destructive waves, flash flooding and mudslides. Forecasters warned that preparations should be rushed to completion.

The storm’s rapid growth left authorities in Mexico scrambling to make people safe. Local officials declared a state of emergency in dozens of municipalities in Colima, Nayarit and Jalisco states that contain the bustling port of Manzanillo and the posh resort of Puerto Vallarta. The governor of Colima ordered schools closed on Friday.

Residents of a stretch of Mexico’s Pacific Coast dotted with resorts and fishing villages boarded up homes and bought supplies Thursday, ahead of Patricia’s arrival.

At a Wal-Mart in Manzanillo, shoppers filled carts with non-perishables as a steady rain fell outside.

Veronica Cabrera, shopping with her young son, said Manzanillo tends to flood with many small streams overflowing their banks. She said she had taped her windows at home to prevent them from shattering.

Alejandra Rodriguez, shopping with her brother and mother, was buying milk, a large jug of water and items like tuna and canned ham that do not require refrigeration or cooking. The family already blocked the bottoms of the doors at their home to keep water from entering.

Manzanillo’s “main street really floods and cuts access to a lot of other streets. It ends up like an island,” Rodriguez said.

In Puerto Vallarta, restaurants and stores taped or boarded-up windows, and residents raced to stores for last-minute purchases ahead of the storm.

Hurricane Center meteorologist Dennis Feltgen said Patricia also poses problems 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.

In Colima, authorities handed out sandbags to help residents protect their homes from flooding.

A hurricane warning was in effect for the Mexican coast from San Blas to Punta San Telmo, a stretch that includes Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta. A broader area was under hurricane watch, tropical storm warning or tropical storm watch.

The Hurricane Center said Patricia was expected to bring rainfall of 6 to 12 inches, with isolated amounts of up to 20 inches in some locations. Tropical storm conditions were expected to reach land late Thursday or early Friday, complicating any remaining preparation work at that point.

“We are calm,” said Gabriel Lopez, a worker at Las Hadas Hotel in Manzanillo. “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.”

The Fox Weather Center and the  Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: FOXNews.com
MONSTER AT THE BACK DOOR Giant Hurricane Patricia set to slam Mexico — will it hit US Southwest?

 

Add Comments

comments

You may also like...