(Bloomberg) -- Hurricane Patricia hit Mexico’s west coast in anarea between commercial centers and rapidly broke down into atropical storm, sparing Latin America’s second-biggest economy froma feared catastrophe.

Early reports from local media indicate Patricia caused somedamage in the states of Jalisco and Colima, and power was lost insome villages. Puerto Vallarta, a beach resort destination north ofthe hurricane’s landfall, was reported to have moderated rain andits main services unaffected, newspaper Reforma said on itswebsite.

Patricia -- which before making landfall was the strongest stormever recorded in the Western Hemisphere -- was downgraded to atropical storm at 7:53 a.m. New York time after making landfallFriday evening near Cuixmala as a Category 5 hurricane, the highestlevel on the Saffir-Simpson scale. El Universal reported on itswebsite that Jalisco state endured damages with no casualties.

“ The first reports confirm that the damages have been smallerthan those corresponding to a hurricane of this magnitude,” MexicanPresident Enrique Pena Nieto said Friday night in a televisedmessage to the nation. “We cannot yet let our guard down,” hesaid.

Patricia packed winds of 160 miles (260 kilometers) per hour,down from 200 mph earlier, according to the U.S. National HurricaneCenter in Miami. Patricia struck about 55 miles west- northwest ofManzanillo, Mexico’s busiest container port.

“Even though Patricia is weakening quickly, strong and damagingwinds at higher elevations could persist through this morning,” thehurricane center said. The storm will break up over the mountainsof Mexico by tonight, the center said.

Mexico ordered the evacuation of areas close to the hurricanepath as the storm approached and deployed about 3,000 soldiers tosafeguard the security of the population, Reforma reportedFriday.

More than 10,000 tourists were evacuated from Puerto Vallarta inanticipation of the hurricane, El Universal said. About 400,000people were considered “vulnerable,” civil protection official JoseMaria Tapia told reporters in Mexico City Friday.

Kinetic Analysis Corp. had projected the storm could cause morethan $3 billion in damages, with about a sixth of that totalincurred by insurers.

Hurricane Patricia forced the closing of ports in Vallarta,Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas, according to the Communications andTransportation Ministry. Manzanillo has a liquefied natural gasterminal and a rail line operated by Ferromex, owned by GrupoMexico SAB and Union Pacific Corp.

--With assistance from Nacha Cattan in Mexico City and BrendanWalsh in New York.

Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten,or redistributed.