Mexicans tally hurricane damage, count their blessings
MEXICO CITY — As they cataloged the damage from the hemisphere’s most ferocious hurricane, Mexican authorities marveled that they escaped relatively unscathed.
By Sunday, Mexican officials had concluded that although a few thousand homes had been damaged by Hurricane Patricia, there had been no reported deaths or catastrophic loss of property.
The dangerous storm’s magnitude — Category 5 — and wind speeds of as high as 200 mph had the power to wreak havoc, “and that, fortunately, has not occurred,” President Enrique Peña Nieto said.
A tour of the impact zone revealed some homes damaged, billboards and trees knocked down, and raging rivers, but life along the coast was quickly returning to normal.