Southland Residents Worry About Family, Friends In Mexico

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) —   Thousands of southern Californians with relatives and friends in Hurricane Patricia's path spent Friday night watching news reports, making phone calls and worrying.

Many gathered at the Mexican Consulate in MacArthur Park, hoping to receive word about the condition of their loved ones.

In Boyle Heights, Friday evenings are usually festive around Marisco's Jalisco's food truck.

But owner Raul Ortega said the tone was drastically different on Friday night, with everyone concerned about friends and family hunkered down for the hurricane.

"Our hearts go to everybody over there, because who knows what's going to happen," said Ortega.

Ortegs is from Jalisco, the Mexican state where the hurricane made landfall as a category five storm arlier Friday night.

He says he called his parents and siblings tonight -- all are riding out the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere.

"I'm just going to keep calling them to see what's going on," Ortega said.

Tens of thousands of people along Mexico's coast were evacuated into shelters or out of the danger zone.

Juan Carlos Salazar is also from Jalisco where the rest of his family lives among the seven million people who call it home.

'I'm worried,' he said. "People there have never experienced a storm this powerful."

Authorities on Saturday were still assessing the damage. There were no reports of injuries or deaths as of Saturday morning.

Officials with the Mexican Consulate say they have established a hotline at (213) 219-0175 for members of the Mexican community to keep up-to-date on the effects of Hurricane Patricia.