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Hurricane Patricia May Have Battered The Mexican Coast, But LAX Travelers Not So Much

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com)  –  The strongest recorded hurricane in the Western Hemisphere was expected to make a mess out of LAX and travel schedules this weekend.

But CBS2's Greg Mills reports that didn't exactly materialize.

The Rice family from Rancho Cucamonga arrived to LAX from Puerto Vallarta Saturday.

They told Mills they saw Hurricane Patricia literally head straight for them.

"We called our son, told him where all our legal papers were, and made sure they were fully aware just in case," said Jody Rice.

The storm hit the southwest Mexican coast hard. There was heavy rain, strong winds -- but not the widespread destruction that was expected or feared.

Travelers returning to LAX on the first direct flight from Puerto Vallarta told Mills first responders were on scene to make sure people got out of the way of the storm.

"About 7 a.m. some sirens and firetrucks and police came through the streets to wake everybody up and they started evacuating people," said Barner Golumbfskie-Jones.

Evacuation was part of the plan at the resort where the Braun family from Westlake Village was staying. But when word came to go, it was too late to escape the storm.

"People were taping windows. we were bringing our furniture in. they had a safe spot for us at the hotel," said Jody Rice.

"They blocked the windows they pushed all the furniture toward the windows," said Gabriel Braun, "they said if something really goes wrong the bathroom is the secondary."

Barner and Jason Golumbfskie-Jones were staying in a condo and took in a family from the midwest that was forced to leave their beachside place.

"I went through an emergency plan and told them where everything was," said Barner.

They taped up all their windows and waited for the storm to hit. And they said it really hit.

"It was raining. dark," said Lydia Braun, "but it wasn't really the storm I expected."

Hurricane Patricia ended up sparing those vacationing in Puerto Vallarta. The predicted catastrophic storm didn't turn out to be as bad as

"It was like a bad rainstorm in LA and that was it," Price..

"It was just mild rain and a some wind around 8 o'clock," said Jason Golumbfskie-Jones.

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