Thousands flee as Willa aims at resort area
Vast hurricane batters Mexican prison island; region opens shelters
MAZATLAN, Mexico — Hurricane Willa swept onto Mexico's Pacific mainland with 120 mph winds Tuesday evening, threatening a major resort area along with fishing villages and farms after roaring over an offshore penal colony.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an evening bulletin that the eye of the dangerous Category 3 storm was about to make landfall, and little variation in strength was expected beforehand.
It warned people not to venture outside during “the relative calm of the eye, since hazardous winds will suddenly increase” as it passes.
The storm's core was hitting a stretch of coast about 50 miles south of Mazatlan, a resort city that is home to high-rise hotels and about 500,000 people, including many U.S. and Canadian expatriates.
Alberto Hernandez, a hotel worker in Teacapan, close to where the storm was making landfall, expressed confidence that the building would hold up. He and his son, who also works at the hotel, were staying on the job, though the rest of his family had left the area.
“We've had rain all day. There is nobody in the streets. Everything is closed,” Hernandez said. “But not everyone wanted to leave, even though authorities made it clear that he who stays does so at his own peril.”
Torrential rains began in the afternoon, and emergency officials said they evacuated more than 4,250 people in coastal towns and set up 58 shelters ahead of the dangerous storm.
The storm also battered the Islas Marias, a group of Mexican islands about 60 miles off the mainland that include a nature preserve and a federal prison. Federal authorities declined to comment on precautions that were taken at the prison, citing security concerns.
As Willa closed in, the beach in Mazatlan almost disappeared, with waves slamming against the coastal boulevard under looming black clouds. A few surfers took advantage of the high waves even as workers boarded up windows on hotels, shops and homes. Schools were closed and the streets nearly empty.
Some families went to a Mazatlan convention center, which opened its doors as a shelter. They spread out blankets along the walls and waited for the storm.
The federal government issued a decree of “extraordinary emergency” for 19 municipalities in Nayarit and Sinaloa states.
Farther to the south, the remnants of Tropical Storm Vicente continued to bring heavy rain that caused deadly flooding and mudslides. Federal disaster agency chief Luis Felipe Puente said 11 people died as a result of Vicente. Local officials earlier put the figure at 12.