Roslyn makes landfall in the Mexican Pacific as a category 3 hurricane

First modification: 10/23/2022 – 15:06Last modification: 10/23/2022 – 15:05

The cyclone entered “near Santa Cruz, Nayarit, around 11:20 GMT. Its maximum sustained winds are 195 km / h,” the NHC detailed in a bulletin.

The center of the hurricane was located 90 km from Tepic, the capital of Nayarit, and was moving at 26 km/h in a north-northwest direction.

Santa Cruz is a small town located in the municipality of Santiago Ixcuintla and has about 1,200 inhabitants who are mainly dedicated to fishing and agriculture.

The Mexican Meteorological Service warned on its side that Roslyn causes strong winds, intense rainfall, electric shocks and waves of up to six meters on the coasts of Nayarit, Jalisco and Colima (west), all in the Pacific.

The first effects of Roslyn

In the resort of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, with some 220,000 inhabitants and one of the largest towns in the area affected by the hurricane, the winds and a rough sea began to suffer around 09:00 GMT, an AFP team found.

Upon making landfall, the rainfall was intense and some streets of Bucerías, in Nayarit, became rivers with strong currents that come down from a nearby hill.

Roslyn formed as a hurricane on Friday and unexpectedly in a few hours reached category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale (out of 5), putting authorities and residents on alert. It is the most powerful phenomenon in the Pacific season.

Hundreds of people left their homes on the coast to move to shelters or relatives’ houses, while commercial activities were suspended at the end of Saturday afternoon in the coastal area of ​​Nayarit and Jalisco.

“Due to the passage of Hurricane Roslyn, this area must be evacuated, it is high risk,” announced vehicles with loudspeakers that toured small communities in Nayarit on Saturday afternoon.

Likewise, the phenomenon forced to postpone a semifinal match of the Guadalajara Tennis Open, the capital of Jalisco, affected by rainfall on Saturday.

A hurricane greater than category 3 is considered a potentially catastrophic “major” event.

Just two decades ago, Kenna hit the coast of Jalisco as a category 4, leaving four dead and millions in losses.

This memory is still fresh in the villagers. “After that experience, we are pending each notice and prepare ahead of time,” Graciano Peña, 59, manager of a Puerto Vallarta shopping mall, told AFP.

At the end of May, Agatha, the first phenomenon of the season in the Pacific, hit the coast of the state of Oaxaca (south), where the rains in mountainous towns left eleven dead.

On October 3, Orlene made landfall in the state of Sinaloa as category 1, leaving mainly material damage.

On September 8, Kay, also a category 1, reached the south of the Baja California peninsula, causing minor damage.

In October 1997, Paulina devastated the southern Mexican Pacific coast as a category 4, leaving more than 200 dead.