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The US National Hurricane Center announced Wednesday that Hurricane Willa has weakened to a tropical storm, but torrential rains will continue in west-central Mexico.
Meteorologists said Willa was heading north-east at a speed close to 20 km / h (32 km / h), which should continue over the next 12 hours. The Hurricane Center added that the Mexican government had put an end to all the warnings about coastal tropical cyclones in the country.
"Fast and steady decay is expected over the next 12 hours, and Willa is expected to dissipate by this afternoon," said the Hurricane Center.
Willa began to lose power overnight after flying over a bunch of seaside towns, fishing villages and farms on the Pacific coast of Sinaloa State in Mexico as a Category 3 storm.
Damage assessment was meager at night due to dark and poor communications, but federal officials said electricity was cut off in some areas and precarious structures with a tin roof damaged have been reported.
Before hitting Tuesday evening in the coastal area near Isla del Bosque with winds of 200 km / h, Willa swept a colony off the coast, about 100 km in the Pacific. The authorities refused to comment on the precautions taken at the prison, citing security concerns, but said the safety of the detainees was a priority.
The US National Hurricane Center said the advance of the storm had accelerated to 28 km / h (28 km / h) on Tuesday night and that it was not clear. it should weaken quickly. He warned, however, that the storm could still cause heavy rains in parts of the states of Jalisco, Nayarit and Sinaloa, with flash floods and landslides in mountainous areas.
Willa arrived ashore about 80 km southeast of Mazatlan, a seaside resort with high-rise hotels and about 500,000 residents, including many American and Canadian expatriates.
Although hotels, restaurants and shops were on board, people ventured onto the coastal boulevard of Mazatlan to watch a spectacular sunset as the hurricane masked the sky to the south.
Alberto Hernandez, a hospitality employee in the town of Teacapan, near the landing point caused by the storm, said he was confident before the building could resist. He and his son, who also work at the hotel, stayed at work, although the rest of his family had left.
"We had rain all day, there is no one in the streets, everything is closed," said Hernandez. "But not everyone wanted to leave, even though the authorities have made it clear that whoever is doing so is doing so at his own risk."
Torrential rains began in the afternoon and emergency officials said they evacuated more than 4,250 people in coastal cities and set up 58 shelters before the storm. Schools were ordered closed.
Approaching Willa, Mazatlan beach has almost disappeared, waves have hit the coastal boulevard beneath the black clouds. Some surfers took advantage of the big waves while the coastal streets were almost deserted, with the exception of the workers who climbed windows in hotels, shops and houses.
Some families fled to the Mazatlan Convention Center, laying blankets along the walls to wait for the storm.
"The house we live in is not well built," said Sergio Ernesto Meri Franco, who rents a studio.
Bob Swanson, a Canadian who spends two to six months a year at his home in the Cerritos area near the coast in Mazatlan, said he had filled his washing machine with water, filled his fuel tank and gasped his car need to head into the mountains for safety.
"I look forward to it," he said on the phone, adding that he was sitting on his porch and was smoking a cigarette.
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Isabella Cota, Associated Press Writer in Mexico contributed to the writing of this report.
