Hurricane Roslyn slammed into a sparsely populated stretch of Mexico’s Pacific coast between the resorts of Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan Sunday morning and quickly moved inland. While it missed a direct hit, Roslyn brought heavy rain and high waves to Puerto Vallarta, where ocean surges lashed the beachside promenade.

The hurricane was moving north-northeast on Sunday at 26 kph and was expected to lose force as it continued. Roslyn came ashore in Nayarit state, about 90 km northwest of Tepic, the inland capital of Nayarit state, in roughly the same area where Hurricane Orlene made landfall Oct. 3.

The hurricane made landfall north of the fishing village of San Blas, about 150 km north of Puerto Vallarta.

Beachside eateries in Puerto Vallarta where tourists had lunched unconcerned Saturday were abandoned Sunday, and at some the waves had carried away railings and small thatched structures that normally keep the sun off diners.

Just hours before the storm, tourists were eating at beachside eateries around Puerto Vallarta and smaller resorts farther north on the Nayarit coast, where Roslyn was expected to hit.

“We’re fine. Everything is calm, it’s all normal,” said Jaime Cantón, a receptionist at the Casa Maria hotel in Puerto Vallarta. He said that if winds picked up, the hotel would gather up outside furniture “so nothing will go flying.”

While skies began to cloud up, waves remained normal, and few people appeared to be rushing to take precautions; swimmers were still in the sea at Puerto Vallarta.

“The place is full of tourists,” said Patricia Morales, a receptionist at the Punta Guayabitas hotel in the laid-back beach town of the same name, farther up the coast.

Asked what precautions were being taken, Morales said, “They (authorities) haven’t told us anything.”

On Sunday, the head of the state civil defense office for the Puerto Vallarta area, Adrian Bobadilla, said authorities were patrolling the area, but had not yet seen any major damage.

“The biggest effect was from the waves, on some of the beachside infrastructure,” said Bobadilla. “We did not have any significant damage.”

The state civil defense office posted video of officers escorting a large sea turtle back to the water, after it had been thrown up on the beach by the large waves.

The National Water Commission said rains from Roslyn could cause mudslides and flooding and the US hurricane centre warned of dangerous storm surge along the coast as well as 10-15 cm. of rain.