Hurricane Patricia
Mexico
Main facts
Hurricane Patricia was a tropical cyclone that formed in the eastern Pacific and rapidly intensified into a Category 5 hurricane. Even more quickly than the storm strengthened, it rapidly weakened over the rugged terrain of Mexico.
Plantations are destroyed
Banana trees lie toppled in mud and floodwaters at a devastated banana plantation outside Cihuatlan, Jalisco state, Mexico, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2015. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Stuck in the middle
The Mexican cargo ship Los Llanitos is trapped between rock formations after it was dragged and ran aground during the effects of Hurricane Patricia near the town of Barra de Navidad, Mexico, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015. The Mexican navy had to airlift 27 crew members of the ship whose hull was badly damaged after it hit the rocks. The ship had left the port of Manzanillo to try to minimize the impact of the hurricane. Nobody was injured, according to the Navy. (AP Photo)
Houses aren't houses
A wrecked house in the Chamela community after the passage of hurricane Patricia in southern Jalisco, Mexico on Oct. 24, 2015. (Hector Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images)
How powerful was it?
On Oct. 23, Patricia became the most powerful tropical cyclone ever measured in the Western Hemisphere as its maximum sustained winds reached an unprecedented 200 mph (320 kph) and its central pressure fell to 879 millibars (25.96 inches of mercury).