No major damage as Hurricane Patricia remnants move north

Rick Jervis and David Agren | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Hurricane Patricia isn't A 'catastrophic' hit in Mexico The Category 5 hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm Saturday, hours after hitting Mexico's coast with winds around 165 mph.

GUADALAJARA, Mexico — Hurricane Patricia left behind flooded homes, raging rivers and downed trees as it degenerated and moved north into Texas, leaving behind far less damage than initially feared.

The Mexican government on Saturday afternoon lifted its emergency alert after Patricia, one of the strongest storms ever to make landfall, weakened rapidly. No deaths were initially reported as emergency crews made their way into the hardest-hit areas. This capital of the state of Jalisco — ground zero for the storm's arrival on shore late Friday — was wet with some storm debris Saturday morning but mostly unscathed from the system's wrath. Some homes in the area where the storm came ashore were flooded but authorities said the damage appeared to be far less than anticipated given the storm's power.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said late Saturday afternoon that Patricia had degenerated into a low pressure system, a stunning transformation from the Category 5 hurricane that roared toward Mexico's Pacific coast packing sustained winds of 200 mph for much of Friday.

"So far, there are no reports of major damage from Patricia," Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said on Twitter Saturday afternoon. "Our gratitude to all for your thoughts, prayers and actions. #PrayForMexico."

Favorable geography worked to Mexico’s advantage in avoiding deaths and destruction. Hurricane Patricia made landfall on the thinly populated Costa Alegre, a collection of fishing ports, beach towns and, increasingly, luxury villas between Manzanillo to Puerto Vallarta.

In the coastal town of Cihuatlan, 21 miles south of where Patricia made landfall, workers on Saturday pumped mud and water out of homes along the Rio Marabasco.

Sergio Lopez, 23, who works in the surrounding banana groves, said water started rising in the river well before the storm hit and rescue workers had to help residents out of their homes.

He heard of the storm's size and track Friday afternoon and fled to a friend's home farther inland.

"It was really a surprise," Lopez said. "It was all very calm, like nothing. Then, suddenly the wind picked up."

He added: "No one expected this."

In the high mountain town of Mascota, floodwaters rushed down the cobblestone streets and rose up to 3 feet high inside some homes.

"I lost everything," Florentino Arreola Arce, 62, said, standing in the fading light as young men and boys scooped buckets of water out of his still flooded house Saturday evening. Nearby, a puppy covered in mud stood next to a pile of shoes, barely recognizable in the brown filth.

Many people were still without electricity and running water late Saturday evening. One couple unlocked their adobe and brick house to show visitors where the roof had collapsed over a bedroom. They climbed over the rubble and red tiles and spoke in quavering voices as they pointed out the damage. Mascota, a farming community, is about 60 miles east of the resort town of Puerto Vallarta.

Raging river just east of Puerto Vallarta under the highway to Mascota. #HurricanePatricia pic.twitter.com/MvTGZkich3 — Daniel Gonzalez (@azdangonzalez) October 24, 2015

Mexico’s Tourism Secretary Enrique de la Madrid said major resorts like Puerto Vallarta had “extraordinary luck” in avoiding damage from the once immensely powerful storm. He said mountains around the city “served as a barrier," the Associated Press reported.

Still, there was some debris. “It's a mess," said Daniel Hallas, an American real estate agent in the seaside community of La Manzanilla, 25 miles from Cuxmala, where the storm made landfall. "All I can say is that it's a mess.”

In Barra de Navidad, also in the Costa Alegre, locals reported downed trees and power lines and roofs ripped off homes, along with flooding during the storm. “There wasn’t much of a warning,” says hotel manager Damian Sánchez, who estimated the storm lasted four hours — with a pause while the eye of the hurricane passed.

The highway between Guadalajara and Manzanillo appeared generally unfazed by the hurricane. Armed federal police officers waved motorists through toll stations, which were suspended Saturday to allow residents to return to their coastal homes.

The highway cuts through the Sierra del Tigre mountain range, but there were no signs of massive mudslides or bridge damage. Barricades cordoned off occasional small mudslides or standing water that seeped into the highway. But mostly the highway was open and fast-moving.

Residents here described heavy rain and strong winds Friday night, but no more than what falls on this city during a rainy season storm. In Tlaquepaque, a suburb of Guadalajara popular with tourists and folk artists, shop owners opened their gift stores and fast-food joints early Saturday for business.

Sofia Quintero, 23, a manager at a shop selling candies and tequila, said Friday night's winds were stronger than usual, but overall the storm wasn't nearly as bad as predicted. Her power and Internet never went out, she said. "Strong winds and a lot of water," Quintero said. "But like they said it would be? No."

Reports elsewhere in the coastal area were also cautiously optimistic: No deaths had been reported and no signs of significant damage were seen all along Mexico's Pacific seaboard.

Landslides and flash floods were reported, but the mass evacuations that occurred before the hurricane's arrival appeared to have worked in saving lives.

Still, emergency crews were assessing the situation. And earlier in the day the coastal highway from Puerto Vallarta to Barra de Navidad, 140 miles south, was impassable due to mudslides, as was the highway from Manzanillo, on the coast, inland to Colima, the capital of the state of Colima.

The Rio Mascota, a few miles east of Puerto Vallarta, was running brown and high on the hot and humid Saturday afternoon.

Aristóteles Sandoval Díaz, governor of the state of Jalisco, which took the brunt of the storm, confirmed that no fatalities had been reported, according to local media.

Mario Anguiano, governor of the state of Colima, which includes the coastal city of Manzanillo, toured the impacted area just before midnight Friday — nearly six hours after Patricia's landfall — and saw minor damage to buildings and roads but said there were no reported deaths or major damage to infrastructure, such as downed bridges.

"The saving of lives has been exceptional," he said in an interview with Milenio Television.

Silvano Aureoles, governor of the state of Michoacan, confirmed that there were no injuries or deaths in his coastal state. Through a series of tweets, he said there were several reports of flooding in the interior city of Uruapan but that water levels were already dropping by early Saturday morning.

Mexico's Ministry of Communications and Transportation reported that destruction throughout Patricia's path was surprisingly minimal, with no significant damage to the telecommunications infrastructure along Patricia's path nor major disruptions to phone or Internet service there.

Pemex, Mexico's state-owned petroleum company, said they hadn't received reports of "major damage" to their infrastructure in Patricia's path. Some downed trees caused minor damage at a distribution center in Colima, but Pemex said its gasoline stations would be ready to come online as soon as power was restored.

In Puerto Vallarta, it was "just another day in Paradise," said one resident as billowy clouds gave way to mostly blue skies by mid-afternoon Saturday, and residents and tourists alike carried on as if nothing had happened. Except for some taped up windows on store fronts there were few signs a massive hurricane had passed nearby this famous beach resort.

"It was just like any other rainy day," said Adan Jimenez, who works at the Puerto Vallarta International Airport helping tourists find hotel accommodations.

An estimated 50,000 residents of the small state of Colima, which includes Manzanillo, were staying in 1,600 shelters, the newspaper Reforma reported. Nayarit state, north of Puerto Vallarta, opened 400 shelters and evacuated tourists and residents of coastal areas inland.

Agren reported from Monterrey, Mexico. Contributing: Daniel Gonzalez in Puerto Vallarta and Mascota, Mexico, Alan Gomez in Miami; Doug Stanglin in McLean, Va.