As Hurricane Patricia Hits, Families Worry Loved Ones May Not Escape Its Wrath In Time

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A colossal hurricane slamming into Mexico has two local families worried about relatives in the area.

Debbie Hernandez's aunt and two cousins live in Manzanillo, and she couldn't reach them by phone on Thursday night.

"I woke up this morning nervous. That's the first thing I thought about, very nervous," she said.

Meteorologists say Hurricane Patricia is the largest hurricane ever recorded in the Pacific Ocean with maximum sustained winds at one point hitting 200 mph—25 mph above the minimum for a Category 5 storm.

Hernandez finally heard from her cousin who says the family is still there.

"They heard they're supposed to leave. They're not sure where exactly," she said.

She fears her family isn't taking reports on the hurricane seriously.

"They're not that worried it seems like, because they're still there," she said.

Sacramento sisters Kristi and Chelsea Randel went to Puerto Vallarta on Wednesday for a long weekend, not knowing the potentially devastating storm was also coming to the coast.

"Nobody in the area was talking about it, thinking about it, no one said anything to me," Kristi said.

It wasn't until late last night that the sisters heard from their worried parents about the storm. Early in the morning her boyfriend woke them to evacuate the resort.

"We got out of the condo at 4:30 in the morning. Had he not woken us up and got us out, we'd be stranded," she said.

They're now staying with a friend three hours away in Guadalajara.

"Roads are crazy," she said. "They opened up all the toll booths and are just shuffling people through to prevent traffic."

Now safe, the sisters' new concern is how they'll get back to the United States.

"If the storm hits like they say it will, there likely won't be an airport," she said.