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NEW: "Many ... families will probably be losing everything," Save the Children rep says
"The storm surge could be catastrophic," the U.S. National Hurricane Center warns
[Breaking news update, 11:20 p.m. ET]
Hurricane Patricia weakened to a Category 4 storm Friday night with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph, but remained “extremely dangerous” over southwestern Mexico, the National Hurricane Center said. Patricia made landfall hours earlier as a Category 5 storm, the fiercest.
[Previous story, published at 10:24 p.m. ET]
(CNN) – Hurricane Patricia – the strongest hurricane ever recorded – made landfall on Mexico’s Pacific coast Friday evening, its 165 mph winds barreling into southwestern Mexico near Cuixmala, officials said.
The monster storm touched down about 6:15 p.m., hours after weakening slightly with sustained winds decreasing to 190 mph and gusts to 235 mph, according to the U.S National Weather Service.
Even then, Patricia lashed the coast with fierce winds and rain as residents and tourists in resorts such as Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo sought shelter.
Patricia landed about 55 miles west-northwest of Manzanillo, home to the largest container port on Mexico’s Pacific seaboard.
Taking the brunt of the hurricane are small fishing villages abou