Record-breaking Hurricane Patricia may have weakened, but concerns remain that its torrential rains could cause deadly flooding and mudslides in western Mexico.

Residents braced for a terrifying night as Patricia, one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere, made landfall in a popular tourist area, packing winds of 265 kph.

Tens of thousands of people were evacuated in advance of the storm, which barrelled toward the country with sustained winds of 321 kph for much of the day before speeds decreased ahead of its landfall 88 kms west-northwest of Manzanillo in the evening.

REUTERS Mexican officials urge residents and tourists to seek shelter as one of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere hits Mexico.

Patricia was downgraded to a Category 2 tropical storm as it arrived over land on Friday night (local time), pummelling a sparsely populated stretch of Mexico's Pacific coast, avoiding direct hits on the resort city of Puerto Vallarta and major port city of Manzanillo.

There were reports of some flooding and landslides, but no word of fatalities or major damage as the storm pushed across inland mountains while bypassing the metropolis of Guadalajara overnight.

President Enrique Pena Nieto issued a taped address late on Friday, noting that while initial reports indicate damage has been less than those expected, "We cannot yet let our guard down."

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Residents of the coast where Patricia came ashore described an enraged sea that crashed into hotels, scooping beach away from their foundations, and howling winds that toppled trees and telephone posts.

NASA Hurricane Patricia approaches the western coast of Mexico in this NASA handout satellite image.

"The waves were coming into the hotel," said Domingo Hernandez, a watchman at the Hotel Barra de Navidad in the resort village of the same name in Jalisco state.

"All the streets here in town are full of downed trees all over the place," said Hernandez, who described Patricia as the strongest storm he's seen in a quarter century of living on the coast. "You have to make your way around all the downed telephone poles, the power lines, the trees."

Mexico's Secretary of Tourism, Enrique de la Madrid, said major tourist resorts like Puerto Vallarta had had "extraordinary luck" in avoiding damage from the once immensely powerful storm.

1 of 15 NASA Hurricane Patricia approaches the western coast of Mexico in this NASA handout satellite image. The National Hurricane Center said Patricia was the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere, and on a par with Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. 2 of 15 NOAA Hurricane Patricia, a category 5 storm, is seen approaching the coast of Mexico in a NOAA satellite image taken by GOES East. 3 of 15 HENRY ROMERO/REUTERS Hotels pictured after tourists were evacuated as Hurricane Patricia approaches the Pacific beach resort of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. 4 of 15 HENRY ROMERO/REUTERS Hotels pictured after tourists were evacuated as Hurricane Patricia approaches the Pacific beach resort of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. 5 of 15 STRINGER/MEXICO A man takes pictures of the surf on the beach in Acapulco, Mexico. 6 of 15 STRINGER/MEXICO Tourists watch as waves hit the shore in Acapulco, October 22, 2015. Hurricane Patricia strengthened into an "extremely dangerous" Category 5 storm as it churned toward Mexico's Pacific coast. 7 of 15 HENRY ROMERO/REUTERS Tourists, who were evacuated from their hotel arrive at the University of Puerto Vallarta used as a shelter as Hurricane Patricia approaches the Pacific beach resort of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. 8 of 15 HENRY ROMERO/REUTERS An employee boards up the windows of a store as Hurricane Patricia approaches the Pacific beach resort of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. 9 of 15 HENRY ROMERO/REUTERS An employee boards up the windows of a store as Hurricane Patricia approaches the Pacific beach resort of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. 10 of 15 HENRY ROMERO/REUTERS An employee boards up the windows of a restaurant as Hurricane Patricia approaches the Pacific beach resort of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. 11 of 15 HENRY ROMERO/REUTERS Residents, who were evacuated from their homes arrive at the University of Puerto Vallarta used as a shelter as Hurricane Patricia approaches the Pacific beach resort of Puerto Vallarta. 12 of 15 HENRY ROMERO/REUTERS United Airlines employees covering computers at the city's international airport as Hurricane Patricia approached the Pacific beach resort, Mexico. 13 of 15 HENRY ROMERO/REUTERS Tourists try to catch the last flight out of Puerto Vallata at the city's international airport as Hurricane Patricia approached the Pacific beach resort, Mexico. 14 of 15 STRINGER/MEXICO A fisherman checks his boat in Acapulco. Hurricane Patricia strengthened into an "extremely dangerous" Category 5 storm. 15 of 15 HANDOUT Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto leads a meeting with members of the government as a satellite image of Hurricane Patricia is displayed on screens in Mexico City.

Patricia weakened to tropical storm force by dawn Saturday with maximum sustained winds of 80 kph and was expected to dissipate over Mexico's inland mountains, becoming a tropical storm later in the day.

Residents and tourists had hunkered down in shelters and homes along a coastal stretch dotted with sleepy fishing villages and gleaming resorts. In Puerto Vallarta, residents had reinforced homes with sandbags and shop windows with boards and tape, and hotels rolled up beachfront restaurants.

American tourist Brandie Galle said she and other guests sheltered in a ballroom with boarded-up windows at the Hard Rock Hotel in Puerto Vallarta. When the city was not feeling any major effects from the storm two hours after landfall, workers let them out to eat at a hotel restaurant.

REUTERS One of the most powerful storms in history makes landfall on Mexico's Pacific coast.

"They said it looked like the storm had hit below us," she said. "Everyone is starting to perk up a little bit but still kind of on edge waiting to see what's going to happen with the storm."

Galle said some guests desperate to leave had earlier paid US$400 (NZ$592) for taxis to drive them the 200 kilometres to the inland city of Guadalajara.

The airports in Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo and Tepic were closed Friday, but officials announced an air bridge of Mexico's main airlines, and aircraft from the Federal Police and armed forces would ferry stranded travellers out of areas hit by the storm, free of charge.

THE MAKING OF A MONSTER

Patricia formed suddenly Tuesday as a tropical storm and quickly strengthened to a hurricane. Within 30 hours it had zoomed to a Category 5 storm, catching many off guard with its rapid growth.

By Friday, it was the most powerful recorded hurricane to hit the hemisphere, with a central pressure of 880 millibars and maximum sustained winds of 325 kph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Patricia's power while still out at sea was comparable to that of Typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 7300 dead or missing in the Philippines two years ago.

Hurricane Patricia seen in an infrared image taken by a Nasa satellite. NASA

More than four million people were displaced by Haiyan and over one million houses were destroyed or damaged in 44 provinces in the central Visayas region, a large cluster of islands.

One of the worst Pacific hurricanes to ever hit Mexico slammed into the same region, in Colima state, in October 1959, killing at least 1500 people.

Last year, powerful Hurricane Odile slammed into the Baja California peninsula of Mexico, killing 11 people. Odile was the most intense landfalling hurricane in the Baja since 1970. In 2011, Jova made landfall as a 162 kph Category 2 hurricane in Jalisco, Mexico, killing nine people.

Locals at the beach in Acapulco as the storm edged close to Mexico. REUTERS

Earlier on Friday, Nieto said he didn't want to create panic, but stressed it was important for people there to understand the magnitude of the historic storm.

During a radio interview, Nieto said Patricia had surpassed the constraints of the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, which defines a top-rated Category 5 storm as having wind speeds higher than 252 kph.

"If there were a Category 6 for hurricanes, this would be a category six," he said.

Businesses scrambled to get ready for the storm's might. REUTERS

"It's a hurricane that hasn't been seen before, not just in Mexico, not just in the United States. It has wind speeds that are greater than the most intense, strongest hurricanes ever recorded on the planet."

"Patricia is one of the strongest tropical cyclones globally ever observed based on lowest central pressure and maximum surface (and flight level) wind speed since the dawn of aviation-based reconnaissance in the 1940s," said WeatherBell meteorologist Ryan Maue.

Patricia's winds intensified a whopping 175 kph during Thursday, rising from a tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane by that evening. It was the fastest intensification ever recorded in the eastern Pacific Ocean, according to meteorologist Phil Klotzbach of Colorado State University.



An employee boards up the windows of a restaurant as Hurricane Patricia approaches the Pacific beach resort of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. REUTERS

In a Category 5 hurricane, a high percentage of framed homes will be destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse, according to the hurricane Centre. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months, and most of the area will be uninhabitable for that same period of time.

Ahead of the storm, tens of thousands of people were evacuated from the area in the path of the storm, particularly in the three Mexican states of Colima, Jalisco, and Nayarit. Those regions house the port city of Manzanillo and the town of Puerto Vallarta, a resort town with a large expatriate community from the US and Canada.

Mexican officials also declared a state of emergency in dozens of coastal towns, including Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta. More than 400 temporary shelters were opened throughout the country for residents fleeing coastal and low-lying areas.

Residents 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.

Tourists try to catch the last flight out of Puerto Vallata at the city's international airport as Hurricane Patricia approached the Pacific beach resort. Image: Reuters/Henry Romero

Fire trucks and ambulances rolled through the streets, sirens blaring, as emergency workers warned people in both Spanish and English to evacuate.

Puerto Vallarta and the neighbouring Riviera Nayarit attract thousands of tourists throughout the year, but airlines suspended service with the storm approaching. The Jalisco state government scrambled a fleet of 30 buses to take tourists from the coast to Guadalajara, a five-hour ride inland.

- Agencies