MEXICO CITY (HPD) — Hurricane Roslyn slammed into a sparsely populated area of Mexico’s Pacific coast between Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan on Sunday and quickly moved inland.
Roslyn was carrying winds of 120 mph (193 kph) on Sunday morning, down slightly from its previous high of 130 mph (209 kpm). The US National Hurricane Center said Roslyn was about 55 miles (90 kilometers) northwest of Tepic, the Nayarit state capital.
The hurricane was heading in a north-northeast direction at 16 mph (26 kph) and was expected to lose strength as it moved inland.
While Puerto Vallarta was not hit directly, it did experience heavy rain and high waves.
Roslyn made landfall in the state of Nayarit, roughly the same area affected by Hurricane Orlene on October 3.
The hurricane made landfall north of the fishing village of San Blas, about 90 miles (150 kilometers) north of Puerto Vallarta.
In Tepic, in the state of Nayarit, Roslyn felled trees and flooded streets; the authorities asked the citizens to stay in her house while a crew tried to clear a road blocked by an avalanche.
Several restaurants in Puerto Vallarta, which were full of tourists on Saturday, were empty on Sunday, and in some of them the waves brought down barriers and shacks that served to protect diners from the sun.
The director of civil defense in Puerto Vallarta, Adrián Bobadilla, said that authorities are patrolling the area but have not seen serious damage.
The civil defense posted on the internet a video of rescuers returning a turtle to the sea that was pushed ashore by the huge waves.
Mexico’s National Water Commission reported that the rains dumped by Roslyn could cause landslides and flooding and the United States hurricane center warned of possible dangerous storm surges on the coast, as well as 10 to 15 centimeters (4 to 6 inches). of rain.