Hurricane Patricia weakens to a tropical storm over Mexico

 

Patricia, one of the strongest ever hurricanes, weakened on Saturday to a tropical storm over Mexico after slamming into the country as a very powerful hurricane on Friday evening, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Mowing down trees, flooding streets and battering buildings, Hurricane Patricia plowed into western Mexico as a Category 5 storm before grinding inland, where it rapidly lost power in the mountains that rise up along the Pacific coast.

The storm's maximum winds were now 50 mph (80 kph), the Hurricane Center said.

(Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Frances Kerry)