Mexico's main Pacific Ports Reopen

 

The major Mexican cargo port of Manzanillo was set to reopen at 4 pm (21:00 GMT) on Saturday, a port official said, after avoiding the worst of Hurricane Patricia, which slammed into the country's Pacific coast but caused less damage than expected.

The port of Lazaro Cardenas, south of where the storm hit, resumed operations for cargo ships on Saturday morning, a port official said, and the smaller port in the resort town of Puerto Vallarta reopened at midday, Mexico's communications and transport ministry (SCT) said.

Hurricane Patricia, which was at one point the biggest storm ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere, blasted Mexico's Pacific coast on Friday evening, but weakened as it came ashore, sparing various highly populated areas and tourist centers from major damage. There haven't been any reported deaths.

(Reporting by Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein)