Hurricane Patricia has grown into a “potentially catastrophic” category 5 storm as it bears down on Mexico’s central Pacific Coast.
Officials declared a state of emergency and handed out sandbags in preparation for flooding as steady rain began to fall in the area around the port of Manzanillo ahead of an expected landfall on Friday afternoon.
In Manzanillo, one of the country’s principal ports, Luz Adriana Limon Rojas, of Colima state’s civil defense agency, said skies were still calm, if cloudy, and no evacuation orders had been issued.
The US National Hurricane Center in Miami warned that preparations should be rushed to completion, saying the storm could cause coastal flooding, destructive waves and flash floods.