Updated: 4:30 PT

Patricia intensified Thursday afternoon into a dangerous Category 4 hurricane, with sustained winds of 130mph. The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) predicts the hurricane will make landfall Friday afternoon or evening. AccueWeather has issued a forecast that warns of potentially damaging winds, power interruptions, and a coastal surge as high as 6ft.

Updated 2:30 PT

Tropical Storm Patricia has strengthened into a Category 4 Hurricane with winds above 100 mph.  Current forecasts predict Patricia will make landfall Friday night with winds as high as 130 mph. Based on the current forecast, the government of Mexico has issued a hurricane watch and a tropical storm for the Mexican coast from Cabo Corrientes to Punta San Telmo, a stretch of coastline that includes the major port city of Manzanillo.

The potential storm surge depends on how much Patricia intensifies between now and Friday, but even at its current strength it will drop over a foot of rain in some areas, causing flash flooding and mudslides.  If Patricia makes landfall as a hurricane, it will be the fifth Eastern Pacific hurricane to do so this late in the season since 1949.  The storm is expected to continue traveling north over the weekend and could result in heavy rain and flooding in Texas and other surrounding US states.

Direct Relief has reached out with offers of assistance to local Mexican organizations such as the Asociación Mexicana de Malta and the Coordinación Nacional de Protección Civil. The team at Direct Relief will carefully monitor the development of this storm over the next 48 hours.

Estimated Affected Population: Mexico – Hurricane Patricia: Up to 290,000 people could experience wind speeds of cyclone strength or above, while up to 1,000 people living in coastal areas below 5m could experience the impacts of a storm surge.