East County News Service

October 23, 2015 (San Diego) – Hurricane Patricia, described as a “potentially catastrophic hurricane” by the National Weather Service’s National Hurricane Center, is forecast to slam into the Pacific coast of Mexico later today.  With winds of 200  miles per hour, Hurricane Patricia is the strongest hurricane ever recorded by the center, which tracks all storms in North America.

CNN reports that 50,000 people have been evacuated along the Mexican coast, where a storm surge wave of 30 feet is expected to hit the Mexican state of Jalisco. The powerful storm is between Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco, about 85 miles southwest of Manzanillo Mexico and 155 miles south of Cabo Corrientes. Flights from San Diego and elsewhere in California into the region have been cancelled, the Los Angeles Times reports.