Photo: BBC

The strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Americas is bearing down on Mexico’s Pacific coast, threatening a “potentially catastrophic” landfall.

Mexican authorities have begun evacuating residents ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Patricia.

The storm is comparable to Typhoon Haiyan, which killed 6,300 people in the Philippines in 2013, the World Meteorological Organization says.

A state of emergency has been declared in three states in Patricia’s path.

The category five hurricane is expected to make landfall on Friday afternoon or evening, with winds of 325km/h (200mph).

The US National Hurricane Center said “Potentially catastrophic Hurricane Patricia moving northward toward landfall in south-western Mexico.”

The centre added that it was the strongest storm it had recorded in the eastern Pacific or the Atlantic.

(BBC)