Hurricane Roslyn struck a sparsely populated stretch of Mexico’s Pacific coast between the resort towns of Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlán on Sunday morning and moved quickly inland.
As of Sunday morning, Roslyn was still a major hurricane with sustained winds of 120 mph (193 km/h), only slightly below its peak of 120 mph (209 km/h). The US National Hurricane Center said Roslyn was about 90 km northwest of Tepic, the inland capital of Nayarit state.
The hurricane was moving north-northeast at 26 km/h and was expected to lose strength as it moved further inland.
Although it missed a direct hit, Roslyn brought heavy rain and high waves to Puerto Vallarta, where ocean swells battered the boardwalk.
5:20 AM MDT Sunday Update: Roslyn makes landfall in west-central Mexico near Santa Cruz, north of Nayarit. Maximum sustained winds are estimated at 120 mph (195 km/h). pic.twitter.com/HDwVyyfq6x
—@NHC_Pacific
Roslyn made landfall in the state of Nayarit, roughly the same area where Hurricane Orlene made landfall on October 3.
The hurricane made landfall north of the fishing town of San Blas, about 150 kilometers north of Puerto Vallarta.
Beachside restaurants in Puerto Vallarta where tourists had had a carefree lunch on Saturday were abandoned on Sunday, and in some the waves had washed away railings and small thatched structures that normally shield diners from the sun.
The Jalisco state civil defense office said authorities were patrolling the area but had not yet seen any significant damage. The National Water Commission said the Roslyn rains could cause mudslides and flooding, and the U.S. Hurricane Center warned of dangerous coastal storm surge as well as 10 to 15 centimeters of rain