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Hurricane Patricia, the monster storm experts predicted to be the worst ever in the Americas that became a tropical storm after landfall, left 235,528 Mexicans without electricity Saturday, though the reported damage was far lighter than initially feared.
Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission was able to re-establish power for around half of those affected by Friday’s powerful winds and rain by 5:40 p.m. local time Saturday, La Jornada reported. Around 250 homes were destroyed or damaged.
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��������⚠️ #HuracánPatricia (Video: @kissmymistakes) pic.twitter.com/0RAY4kKY0m
— Jérôme Guitton (@JeromeGuitton)
October 24, 2015
Happy to hear #HuracanPatricia has calmed into a tropical storm! Still praying everyone in #Mexico is safe <3 Te Amo pic.twitter.com/l8YEFCb5U5
— Alexander Parker (@alexparker05)
October 24, 2015
Mexican authorities ordered people to evacuate from the states of Colima, Nayarit and Jalisco, emergency warnings that proved successful as the Mexican government reported that no lives were lost, though there was significant flooding and many cancelled flights.
Here's #Patricia #HuracanPatricia rain map from Mexican gov. Serious but not apocalyptic at this stage pic.twitter.com/o6PcTC4Y2F
— Manuel Roig-Franzia (@RoigFranzia)
October 24, 2015
Mexico’s communication and transport minister, Gerardo Ruiz, said that public transit was suffering delays but was also returning to normal.
The relatively mild outcome of Hurricane Patricia came as a relief to many in light of warnings that the storm could have similar effects to Typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 6,300 people in the Philippines and destroyed around 90 percent of the city of Tacloban in Leyte province.
“We should be happy that the results have not been those that at one point we were expecting,” said Ruiz.
Also on Saturday, President Enrique Peña Nieto visited Colima and Jalisco to evaluate the damage caused by Patricia, meeting with local and state authorities.
Peña Nieto praised the smooth functioning of the alert system and Civil Protection and thanked the public for abiding by government warnings and evacuation orders. He also warned people to “not let down their guard.”
