Mexican mountains break up Hurricane Patricia as biggest Pacific storm ever causes 'less than expected' damage and no fatalities... but residents now face threat of flooding and mudslides

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Despite being measured as the strongest hurricane ever in the Western Hemisphere, Hurricane Patricia has been significantly weakened by the mountains of western Mexico and has caused only minor damage.

No fatalities were reported the morning after the massive storm made landfall on Friday, striking luxury resorts and villages on the country's west coast with winds that did not reach the 200mph gusts seen out at sea.

Downgraded to a tropical storm by early Saturday, the National Hurricane Center said that Patricia had weakened further to a tropical depression late on Saturday morning.

However, weather forecasters still warn of possibly deadly floods and mudslides due to torrential rains that continue to batter parts of Mexico as the storm's remnants head toward Texas.

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Hurricane Patricia was weakened by the Sierra Madre mountains in western Mexico and had been downgraded to a tropical storm as of Saturday. Above, an image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows how the storm has lost its cyclone shape

This image taken on Friday from the International Space Station shows the huge scale of Hurricane Patricia as it readied for landfall. Hurricane strength winds are sweeping across a circular area 70 miles wide inside the storm

The storm is moving slowly eastwards and northwards across Mexico as it slows down after hitting the Sierra Madre. Above, a map shows the path of Patricia as of Saturday morning

Another shot take by astronaut Mark Kelly aboard the International Space Station shows the massive storm stretching to the horizon as it made its way to land 

Red Cross volunteers came out after the storm had passed in the resort of Puerto Vallarta, loading humanitarian aid boxes from a truck to distribute

A force of tens of thousands was dispatched by the Mexican government to deal with the storm. Above, soldiers remove sand from the street in Manzanillo, a port just south of where Patricia made landfall

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said that first reports of the storm's damage were less than expected for a hurricane the size of Patricia. Above, the president sits at a meeting of the government

The US National Hurricane Center warned that the storm is still 'extremely dangerous' despite being downgraded, officials warned last night.

The hurricane was billed as the strongest ever and had wind speeds of 201mph before hitting land, but the US National Hurricane Center says it made landfall at 165mph and had slowed to 50mph as of Saturday morning during its move across Mexico.

Thousands of tourists fled Friday as the storm approached, however it appears to have missed most major towns and cities that were predicted to be in Patricia's path. 

Patricia made landfall inbetween the shipping port of Manzanillo and the resort of Puerto Vallarta, striking closest to a large private estate of jungle and beach reserves near Cuixmala, according to CNN. 

'The first reports confirm that the damage has been less than would be expected of a hurricane of this magnitude,' Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said in a televised address.

The National Weather Service had said that as the hurricane moves inland, the mountains of Mexico 'will shred Patricia apart', which proved to be accurate as the storm moved across the western and southern Sierra Madre.

Pictures posted online by federal police near where the hurricane struck showed scenes of damage from the storm, including downed trees

Streets were empty in many western Mexican cities as some residents in parts of the Jalisco state (pictured) were evacuated and tourists sheltered

Evacuees hunkered down inside a hurricane shelter in Puerto Vallarta shortly before the Category 5 storm struck on Friday

A pregnant woman and her young child rest on the floor of a shelter as they waited out the hurricane while it made landfall in Mexico

Lines at stores in the coastal community were also long but the majority of tourists and residents evacuated Puerto Vallarta at the urging of loud speaker announcements. One resident said: 'Everyone is running'

Hunkering down: Workers deploy sandbags and board up windows in an attempt to protect the resort city of Puerto Vallarta, left. While tourists arrive at a makeshift shelter at the town's university, right

People arrive at a makeshift shelter set up in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Patricia in the Pacific resort city Puerto Vallarta

Farther north, in Texas, the tail end of the hurricane is likely to cause flooding, with 20 inches of rain set to fall in less than 24 hours in some places.

The combination of Hurricane Patricia and another slow-moving storm system already drenching the state has put 10million people in Texas under flash flood warnings.

A train in Navarro County became submerged in floodwaters overnight after it derailed, according to ABC 13. Two workers aboard were rescued.

Rain fell throughout Friday in Texas and a foot of rainfall is expected in Dallas, Houston and Austin on Saturday.

Corsicana, a city 50 miles south of Dallas, was hit with 16 inches of rain overnight. 

The weakened Patricia system will continue moving north and eventually bring another round of rain to Texas before moving into Arkansas, Louisiana and beyond.

Category 5 storm Patricia was the strongest recorded hurricane in history, with the US National Hurricane Center measuring 201mph sustained winds before it hit land and the lowest recorded atmospheric pressure of 880mb.  

Some officials even warned that Patricia would make it across Mexico as a hurricane, regain strength in the Gulf of Mexico and head towards the United States. 

By 10pm local time Friday the storm had dropped down to being a Category 4 hurricane, with wind speeds of around 130mph, though the National Hurricane Center said it was still 'extremely dangerous'.

A Union Pacific train was partially subrmerged in flood waters as it derailed overnight on Saturday. Two workers aboard were successfully rescued

The tail end of the hurricane has put 10million people under flash flood warnings, including swathes of Texas that are already being pounded with torrential rain (floods near Dallas pictured on Friday)

Cars were caught in flooding near Dallas on Friday as rain driven by Patricia pounded Texas. Corsicana, a town 50 miles south, received 16 inches of rain

Rain fell throughout Friday in Texas, where 20 inches of rain could fall in some parts of the state in the next 24 hours. A foot of rain is expected in Dallas (pictured Friday), Houston and Austin on Saturday

Patricia developed in the Pacific so suddenly that many had little time to flee coastal towns in Mexico, with hotels and schools turned into shelters for those without somewhere safe to hunker down. 

Locals boarded up their homes ahead of the hurricane and were seen gathering last-minute supplies after being told to prepare for the 'worst-case scenario'. 

Near the tourist resort of Puerto Vallarta, holidaymakers told of their terror as hotels turned function rooms into makeshift shelters. 

Brad Powles, from California, tweeted pictures of hotel staff locking and bolting doors to their hotel shelter shut, with dozens of beds moved downstairs for terrified people waiting out the storm. 

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said it was hard to predict what damage would be done by the massive storm, which could be seen barreling into Mexico from outer space.

'But one thing we're certain of is that we're facing a hurricane of a scale we've never ever seen,' he warned the nation in a radio interview. 

A force of 50,000 were dispatched by the government to western states such as Jalisco, Colima and Nayarit, and Mexican officials said 1,780 shelters were set up for 240,000 people.

Mexican and international tourists waited at a conference center to be transferred to a shelter, ahead of the arrival of Category 5 Hurricane Patricia

Tourists boarded a bus in Puerto Vallarta where residents are being evacuated before Patricia - the strongest Pacific hurricane ever - hit

Locals and tourists were either hunkering down or trying to make last-minute escapes ahead of what forecasters called a "potentially catastrophic landfall

Before making landfall, the hurricane-strength winds covered a circle around the storm with a diameter of 70 miles, and tropical storm winds were sweeping across a circular area 350 miles wide.

Experts say the effects of Patricia could be comparable to Typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 7,300 dead or missing in the Philippines two years ago. 

In Puerto Vallarta, a resort town with a population of 250,000, loudspeakers blared orders to evacuate hotels as a light rain fell and a slight breeze ruffled palm trees. The streets emptied as police sirens wailed. Several exclusive resorts favored by billionaires and celebrities are also in the firing line.

'Everyone is running, all the grocery stores are already sold out,' said local worker Ramona Delgado, who also described 10ft waves crashing into the shore. 

Evacuations at hotels were made more difficult by the three airports in the area shutting down for the hurricane. 

Long lines of traffic stretched out of Puerto Vallarta en route to the major city of Guadalajara, around a five-hour drive inland.

Aristoteles Sandoval, the governor of the state of Jalisco, expected about 15,000 people to be evacuated from Puerto Vallarta.

Brandie Galle, a tourist from Oregon at the Hard Rock Hotel, told CBS that  guests had been paying $400 for taxis to drive them 120 miles inland to Guadalajara.

A handout picture released by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on October 23 shows a rainbow colored image of Hurricane Patricia as it approaches the coastline of Mexico from the Eastern Pacific with 200mph winds

Vast: Patricia completely fills the frame in this shot taken by a NOAA weather satellite. The eye of the storm was eight miles wide at one point

This October 23 UTC Eumetsat satellite image shows Patricia as it neared the Meixcan coast. The storm surprised meteorologists with how quickly it grew

The lowest recorded atmospheric pressure inside the storm is 880mb, which makes it the strongest hurricane in history -  breaking the previous record of 882mb held by 2005’s Hurricane Wilma. 

The strongest storm ever recorded is 1979's Typhoon Tip which had an atmospheric pressure of 870mb, however its maximum windspeed was 5mph slower than Patricia. Typhoon Nancy of 1961 holds the record for highest wind speed at 215mph. 

Hotel workers said this afternoon that efforts had begun to start evacuating guests, but others said they were still waiting to be told where to send them. 

Local schools were also closed and some business owners were busy boarding and taping up windows. The Federal Electricity Commission said it was planning electricity shutdowns from around 1pm in the states of Colima, Jalisco and Nayarit. 

Mexico's communications and transport minister, Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, said the hurricane is of 'colossal' proportions, and urged people to protect themselves.

'It's a danger to the coastlines, and a danger to the population,' he said.

The government warned that ash and other material from the volcano of Colima, about 130miles from Puerto Vallarta, could combine with massive rainfall to trigger 'liquid cement'-style mudflows that could envelop nearby villages.  

Hurricane Patricia was a category five storm, and had winds of approximately 165mph around the time of its landfall

A worker boards up the front of a waterfront business Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Friday

A man leaves his house in Boca de Pascuales, Colima State, Mexico before the arrival of Hurricane Patricia

Patricia's maximum sustained winds of close to 200mph, dwarfed the power of the 1959 Mexico hurricane, which with winds of 160mph is the next most powerful to make landfall in this part of the Pacific. 

During a UN briefing in Geneva, World Meteorological Organization spokeswoman Clare Nullis compared the monster storm to Typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 6,300 people in the Philippines and wiped out or damaged practically everything in its path as it swept ashore on November 8, 2013, destroying around 90 per cent of the city of Tacloban in Leyte province.

Describing Patricia's strength, Nullis said: 'The winds are enough to get a plane in the air and keep it flying.' 

The strongest storm ever recorded was Cyclone Tip which hit Japan in 1979.  

In Mexico, officials declared a state of emergency in dozens of municipalities in Colima, Nayarit and Jalisco states that contain the bustling port of Manzanillo and the resort of Puerto Vallarta.

The director of Mexico's National Water Commission said Friday that the looming monster storm is powerful enough to lift up automobiles, destroy homes that are not sturdily built with cement and steel and will be able to drag along people caught outside when the hurricane strikes. 

The governor of Colima ordered schools closed on Friday, when the storm was forecast to make what the Hurricane Center called a 'potentially catastrophic landfall'.

According to the 2010 census, there were more than 7.3million people in Jalisco state and more than 255,000 in Puerto Vallarta municipality. There weremore than 650,000 in Colima state, and more than 161,000 in Manzanillo.

Luis Felipe Puente Espinosa, national coordinator for civil protection, said three airports located in Patricia's path - in Tepic, in Nayarit state, Puerto Vallarta, in Jalisco state and Manzanillo, in Colima state - have been shut down.  

People preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Patricia break down their souvenir shop in the Pacific resort city Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Thursday

An employee rolls up matts at a Sheraton beachfront hotel as staff prepare for the coming superstorm 

Men fill small bags with sand from the beach as they prepare for the arrival of Patricia in Puerto Vallarta Friday,

Framed by luggage, a toddler sits in a baby carrier as tourists wait for buses to transfer them from a conference center to a shelter

Above, residents doing emergency shopping ahead the imminent arrival of Hurricane Patricia, in Puerto Vallarta