The vast majority of tourists visiting Puerto Vallarta have been successfully evacuated, Jalisco Tourism Secretary Enrique Ramos Flores confirmed Friday around 2:30 p.m. Others that failed to make it out are beng housed in local shelters.
Around 10,000 tourists were reckoned to be in Puerto Vallarta as Category 5 Hurricane Patricia approached the port Friday morning.
Most of the tourists have been transported in buses to Guadalajara.
Authorities want all the ocean-front hotels in the tourist zone evacuated before the storm slams into the port.
The hurricane, described by the U.S. National Hurricane Center as the strongest it has ever recorded in the eastern Pacific or the Atlantic, is expected make landfall on the southern Jalisco coast Friday afternoon.
Although flights have been suspended in and out of Puerto Vallarta, two airlines put planes at the disposal of Jalisco authorities to transport evacuees to Guadalajara or Mexico City.
The Jalisco government has urged residents to leave the port for safer locations inland or take refuge in municipal shelters. See list of locations below.
All gas stations have been closed and the regional electric utility (Comisión Federal de Electricidad, CFE) is preparing emergency teams to attend to the problems that the storm will leave in its wake.
Jalisco Governor Aristoteles Sandoval said 800 federal police have been dispatched to Vallarta to safeguard business and homes should the hurricane leave extensive range in its wake.