Hurricane Patricia - the strongest storm on record - makes landfall in Mexico

Experts have said the storm could be potentially catastrophic

Category Five Hurricane Patricia, the strongest on record, has made landfall in western Mexico, strking the country's Pacific coastline with winds of up to 165mph.

The powerful and potentially catastrophic storm made landfall at Playa Perula in the state of Jalisco, Mexico's meteorological service said. The US National Hurricane Centre said Patricia was the strongest storm ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere.

Video footage taken from the the eye of the storm showed torrential rain and trees bending. Driving rains sparked flash flooding and tourists piled into makeshift dormitories.

"The winds are really strong. It's amazing, even the cars are moving," Laura Barajas, a 30-year-old hotel worker from the port of Manzanillo, near where the storm hit, told Reuters.

There were no immediate details of damage or of potential injury. Some reports suggested the storm's strength could dissipate on Saturday, once it hits the a mountain range.

Mexican authorities have already been evacuating thousands of residents along the country's Pacific coast in advance of the potentially catastrophic storm.

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

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

The storm is carrying winds of 190mph. It made landfall in the Playa Perula area of Jalisco state, some 20 miles from the port city of Manzanillo.

Video filmed in Manzanillo an hour before the hurricane struck showed, trees bending in severe wind.

It has already produced the third lowest barometer reading ever recorded - a pressure of 880 millibars at the centre of the storm - the centre reported.

Some 400,000 people live in vulnerable areas, according to Mexico's National Disaster Fund.

The hurricane, which will bring torrential rain, could trigger flash floods and mudslides, the US centre said.

The western state of Jalisco is home to the resort town of Puerto Vallarta, which could lie directly in Patricia's path.

Police patrols in the resort urged people to leave the shorefront for safer areas at least three blocks inland, while loudspeakers ordered hotel residents to evacuate.

The town’s airport, along with two others in the path of the storm, were closed. Schools have been closed in Jalisco, Colima and Guerrero states.