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PUERTO VALLARTA: Hurricane Roslyn made landfall on the west coast of Mexico on Sunday as a powerful Category 3 storm, the US National Hurricane Centre said, as communities sheltered from damaging winds, a dangerous storm surge and flash flooding.
The storm hit near the small town of Santa Cruz in the coastal Nayarit state around 5:30am packing estimated maximum sustained winds of 120 miles per hour, the NHC said.
Just hours before hitting the Mexican shore, Roslyn was downgraded from a Category 4 to a Category 3 storm on the five-tier Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale, with the NHC predicting “rapid weakening” after landfall.
The NHC and the Mexico meteorological service warned of damaging winds, heavy rains that could cause flash flooding and landslides and waves up to six metres (20 feet) high along the Pacific coast.
“Roslyn is expected to produce a life-threatening storm surge with significant coastal flooding in areas of onshore winds” through Sunday, the NHC said, adding that near the coast “the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves.”
Authorities issued hurricane warnings for portions of the Pacific coast states of Jalisco, Nayarit, Sinaloa and Las Islas Marias, some 60 miles offshore.
High winds and rough seas hit the Jalisco resort of Puerto Vallarta, home to some 220,000 people and one of the largest towns in the area affected by the hurricane, around 0900 GMT. In the Nayarit town of Bucerias, the downpour turned some roads into rivers.
Residents were on high alert after Roslyn, the most powerful storm so far of the Pacific season, reached Category 4 after forming on Friday before it was downgraded.
Jalisco, which is slated to get up to 10 inches (25 centimetres) of rain in some spots, set up shelters in the cities of Cabo Corrientes, La Huerta and Puerto Vallarta.