Category 5 Hurricane Patricia, the strongest ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere, is expected to make a potentially catastrophic landfall later today on the West Coast of Mexico. Forecasters have been been tracking the storm for days, but its sudden intensification in the last 12 hours is making it difficult for news crews to cover the storm:
Our @abc team trying to get to #Patricia – airports near landfall on west coast closing as the hurricane nears.
— Matt Gutman (@mattgutmanABC) October 23, 2015
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Several coastal hotels have rooftop live cameras trained on the Pacific Ocean and sites like Grasswire are picking up the streams. Meanwhile, global news operations are tapping local freelancers to update the situation on the ground. The Weather Channel has freelancer Josh Morgerman onsite reporting exclusively for the network. He is near the coast not far from Manzanillo. The network is also producing a special tonight from 9-11 p.m. ET called “Patricia: Strongest Storm on Earth.” Freelancer Duncan Tucker is in Guadalajara, about 200 miles inland from where Patricia is expected to make landfall.
I just went on CBS Radio to discuss Hurricane #Patricia. Should be going live on Sky News at 7pm UK too.
— Duncan Tucker (@DuncanTucker) October 23, 2015
News orgs are also using Twitter to encourage those in the path of the storm to share their stories–so long as they can do so safely.
Are you in Mexico? If it's safe for you to do so – share your #Patricia pictures & stories: haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk https://t.co/twB5iaE0LK
— BBC_HaveYourSay (@BBC_HaveYourSay) October 23, 2015
Are you preparing for Hurricane #Patricia? Share your stories & photos, but please stay safe https://t.co/noVqWOgGpl pic.twitter.com/YtOXjKa4PX
— CNN iReport (@cnnireport) October 23, 2015