Guadalajara, Mexico, Oct 24 (EFE). – Patricia, which weakened quickly after making landfall in Mexico as a fearsome Category 5 hurricane, caused no casualties and only minor damage, authorities said Saturday in a preliminary report.

“There were some regrettable accidents … a road accident, a fallen tree, but no major incidents,” Communications and Transportation Secretary Gerardo Ruiz Esparza said at a press conference.

He thanked Mexico’s citizens for taking the necessary precautions ahead of the arrival of Patricia, which came ashore on Mexico’s southwestern Pacific coast Friday evening.

Echoing remarks by state authorities on Friday, Ruiz Esparza said there had been no fatalities in Jalisco, where the storm made landfall, nor in the neighboring states of Colima and Nayarit, although the secretary cautioned that that information was preliminary.

Airports and roads in Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit and Michoacan are operating “almost normally” less than 24 hours after Patricia came ashore, Ruiz Esparza said.

President Enrique Peña Nieto, for his part, was scheduled to visit the states of Colima and Jalisco Saturday to get a first-hand look at Patricia’s impact.

Patricia has weakened to just a remnant low pressure system over northeastern Mexico, and authorities expect it to dissipate over the next several hours.

Patricia formed on Tuesday and quickly intensified to become a Category 5 monster, the largest hurricane on record in the Western Hemisphere. At its peak off Mexico’s coast, its maximum sustained winds reached a terrifying 325 kph (200 mph).

Mexican authorities evacuated around 50,000 residents and tourists on the Pacific coasts of the states of Jalisco, Colima and Nayarit as the storm approached.

Patricia quickly weakened, however, as it moved over Mexico’s mountainous terrain. EFE