General News

Members of the Bahia de Banderas Fire Department can now fight vehicle and grass fires, home content blazes and exploding propane tanks with renewed confidence thanks to the arrival of a used fire engine from San Jose, California. 

Authorities in Jalisco and Coloma had prepared for the worst case scenario as Hurricane Patricia roared its way to the Pacific coast Friday evening.  With winds of up to 200 mph, Patricia had developed into a category five hurricane in less than 24 hours – the strongest ever measured by the U.S. National Hurricane Center. Some weather experts  described it as a potentially “catastrophic” event – a warning that prompted authorities in Jalisco and Colima to take unprecedented prevention measures.

Teams evaluating the destructive toll taken by Hurricane Patricia say at least 9,000 homes on Jalisco’s southern coastline have suffered some kind of damage, many of them irreparably.

Personnel from the state Social Development Agency (Sedesol) are going door-to-door to make an inventory of the damages. 

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.

Destroyed by Hurricane Jova in 2011, Barra Navidad had only just got back on its feet, after millions of dollars had been invested in rehabilitating the decimated beach zone.

“Extremely dangerous and potentially catastrophic “ Hurricane Patricia was upgraded to Category 5 late Thursday  and is expected make landfall on the southern Jalisco coast Friday afternoon or evening.

Patricia strengthened from a tropical storm into a major hurricane in less than 36 hours.

Tourism is on the rise everywhere in Mexico and nowhere more so than in Puerto Vallarta.