Mexico President Enrique Peña Nieto said on Friday night in a recorded video message that the damage from Hurricane Patricia has so far been "less than that corresponding to a hurricane of this magnitude". Peña Nieto revealed that no deaths had been reported yet, but expressed caution that the storm was still dangerous and asked people to remain in shelters.

The United States' National Hurricane Centre had earlier downgraded the hurricane to a Category 4 storm, but warned that it is still “likely to cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides” in states along the south-west coast of Mexico on Saturday.

The hurricane battered Mexico’s Pacific coast on Friday evening, with winds clocking 270 kilometres per hour. It brought lashing rains, surging seas and cyclonic winds, which forecasters had said could cause catastrophic damage, reported the Guardian. Hotels were transformed into makeshift shelters, and schools and airports were shut as residents fled the western coast. Mexican authorities received reports of some flooding and landslides after the hurricane made landfall in a relatively unpopulated stretch of the Pacific coast in the western state of Jalisco.

Before the landfall, Mexican authorities had started evacuating hundreds of people and declared an emergency in three states. The hurricane was expected to be the strongest ever hit the western hemisphere, with estimated wind speeds of up to 325 kilometres per hour.

Here is a video by Nasa with an animation of images captured from October 20 to 23, showing Hurricane Patricia near western Mexico:

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This video by the Associated Press shows people, including tourists, trying to find shelter ahead of the landfall:

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