The epicenter of Hurricane Wila hit the Pacific coast of Mexico with winds of 195 kilometers per hour and torrential rain on resorts as thousands of people moved to safety.
Storm Waila, a Category 3 hurricane, arrived on land near the town of Tikaban, about 100 km south of the coastal resort of Mazatlan, a tourist attraction in Sinaloa state.
The US National Hurricane Center said Willa was one of the strongest cyclones to hit Mexico from the Pacific in the last few years and was expected to weaken rapidly as he went on land.
The center warned residents to venture out of the "relative calm" of the storm's eye as the wind could suddenly rise.
The storm stormed into a Category 5 hurricane on Monday with winds of up to 260 km per hour before weakening later.
The roads near Mazatlan's historic center looked almost deserted as rain and wind intensified.
Several other tourist attractions in the state of Nayarit, as well as the resort of Puerto Vallarta in Jalisco state, are in the cyclone path expected to be accompanied by a sea-level rise that threatens lives.
