Hurricane Patricia barreled toward southwestern Mexico Friday as a monster Category 5 storm, the strongest ever in the Western Hemisphere. Locals and tourists were either hunkering down or trying to make last-minute escapes ahead of what forecasters called a "potentially catastrophic landfall" later in the day.
The storm was homing in on a Pacific coastline dotted with both sleepy fishing villages and gleaming resorts, including the popular beach city of Puerto Vallarta and the port of Manzanillo. After hitting land, Patricia's projected path would quickly take it over mountainous terrain that's prone to dangerous flash floods and landslides.
In Puerto Vallarta, locals reinforced homes with sandbags and shop windows with boards and tape, and hotels rolled up beachfront restaurants. The airport was closed to all flights and all but deserted, but lines formed at a bus station by people anxious to buy tickets to Guadalajara and other inland destinations.
Fire trucks and ambulances vehicles rolled through the streets, sirens blaring, advising people to evacuate. For José Manuel González Ochoa, owner of chicken restaurant Ochoa Pollos, that made up his mind. His family lives in their ground-floor chicken restaurant, Ochoa Pollos, and neighbors told them water was 5 feet deep in the street the last time a hurricane came through.
"We're better off heading up there already," González Ochoa said, mentioning a town 30 minutes from the coast. "The whole government is telling us to leave. You have to obey."
Asked what preparations he would make for his business, he said he'd just close it up and see what's left after the storm passes.
Patricia formed suddenly Tuesday evening as a tropical storm, turned into a hurricane just over a day later and just kept growing in strength, catching many off guard. By Friday it was the most powerful hurricane on record in the Western Hemisphere with maximum sustained winds near 200 mph, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
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. More than 4 million people were displaced and over 1 million houses were destroyed or damaged in 44 provinces in the central Visayas region, a large cluster of islands.
By late morning Patricia's center was about 125 miles southwest of Manzanillo, and about 195 miles south of Cabo Corrientes. The Hurricane Center said Patricia was expected to remain an "extremely dangerous" Category 5 hurricane through landfall in the afternoon or evening, before weakening over the inland mountains.
Mexican officials declared a state of emergency in dozens of municipalities in Colima, Nayarit and Jalisco states, and schools were closed. Many residents had already bought supplies ahead of Patricia's arrival. The government suspended tolls on the Guadalajara-Tepic highway to facilitate the flow of vehicles from the coast.
According to the 2010 census, there were more than 7.3 million inhabitants in Jalisco state and more than 255,000 in Puerto Vallarta municipality. There were more than 650,000 in Colima state, and more than 161,000 in Manzanillo.
Evacuations were under way in Puerto Vallarta, with officials taking people to 14 shelters, mostly in schools, according to the Jalisco government's webpage. There were no immediate figures on evacuations, and few people were seen going to the shelters.
Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong told Mexico's Radio Formula that officials are especially worried about the safety of people in Puerto Vallarta and the nearby community of Bahía de Banderas, in Nayarit state.
"We need people to understand the magnitude of the hurricane," he said. "It is a devastating hurricane, the biggest one ever registered."
Osorio added that the government deployed soldiers and police, but did not say how many.
Three airports in Patricia's path were shut down: Puerto Vallarta; Manzanillo, in Colima state; and Tepic, in Nayarit.
The lobby of the Sheraton Hotel in Puerto Vallarta was bustling Friday morning, with a long line of people forming to check out. More than 900 guests had rooms at the hotel the previous evening, but many wanted to get out of town before the storm arrived.
Forecasters warned of coastal flooding, destructive waves and flash floods.
Hurricane Center spokesman 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.
The U.S. National Weather Service said a flash flood watch would be in effect through Sunday morning for Dallas Fort-Worth, Austin and San Antonio, Texas.
A coastal food warning was in effect through Friday night in Corpus Christi. Galveston was under a coastal flood advisory until Saturday night.
A hurricane warning was in effect for the Mexican coast from San Blas to Punta San Telmo, and a broader area was under hurricane watch, tropical storm warning or tropical storm watch.