Category 3 Willa makes landfall on Mexico’s Sinaloa coast

MAZATLAN, Mexico— Hurricane Willa swept onto Mexico’s Pacific mainland with 120 mph winds Tuesday night, 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 dangerous Category 3 storm hit near the town of Isla del Bosque in Sinaloa state. There were no early reports on damage.

Willa came ashore about 50 miles southeast 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 made landfall, expressed confidence before it hit 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 house we’re living in is not well built,” said Sergio Ernesto Meri Franco, who rents a studio apartment.

The federal government issued a decree of “extraordinary emergency” for 19 municipalities in Nayarit and Sinaloa states.