Hurricane Lala lashes Hawaii’s Big Island as a Category 1 storm

Hurricane Lala on Saturday slammed Hawaii’s Big Island as a Category 1 storm, where it was bringing heavy rain and the possibility of life-threatening flooding and mudslides, forecasters said, as well as dangerous surf and rip currents. 

The weather system strengthened into a hurricane earlier in the day with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph. A tropical storm becomes a hurricane when its maximum sustained winds reach 74 mph. 

“People should be sheltering in place now,” Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said in a social media video.   

There were about 76,000 customers without power across the state as of Saturday evening local time, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us, or about 15% of all residents. 

The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said there were reports of downed trees and power lines across the Big Island. 

The agency implored people to “please stay indoors and off the roads.” 

Officials said that Hilo International Airport and Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport, both located on Hawaii’s Big Island, had been temporarily shuttered. Big Island and Maui County commercial ports were also closed.

About 180 Hawaii National Guard members had been deployed to assist with emergency response, the state’s emergency management agency said. 

In the National Hurricane Center’s latest advisory, Lala was centered about 30 miles south of South Point, Hawaii — the southernmost point of the Big Island — and 220 miles southeast of Honolulu, which is located on Oahu. It was moving northwest at 9 mph. 

Nahuku, located inside the Big Island’s Volcanoes National Park, had already recorded 20.74 inches of rain as of Saturday night, while the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island, the highest point in Hawaii, had recorded wind speeds of 140 mph. 

The hurricane center said that as Lala interacts with the Big Island, it could see “erratic motion” during this period. 

It was still unclear if Lala’s core would make landfall in Hawaii, although its eyewall — an area of powerful winds, thunderstorms and heavy rain which encircles the eye of a hurricane — was “brushing” the southern portion of the Big Island, forecasters said. A hurricane has not made landfall in the state since Hurricane Iniki in 1992. 

Hurricane conditions were expected to persist into Saturday night on the Big Island before Lala’s center moves south of the smaller islands on Sunday and Monday, the hurricane center said. 

It would likely maintain its current strength until it passes the Big Island, at which point it would weaken significantly, forecasters noted. 

Maui County — which includes the islands of Maui, Lanai, Molokai and Kahoolawe — and Oahu were expected to see tropical storm conditions late Saturday, with tropical storm conditions reaching Kauai County — which includes the islands of Kauai and Niihau — on Sunday. 

Green had said in a news briefing Friday night that Hawaii would see “an incredible amount of water,” warning residents and visitors to prepare for heavy flooding and major power outages. 

“We’re hoping that it’s going to be sufficiently far south that we just get the periphery of the storm, but, no promises, we’ve seen storms turn,” Green said.    

Mudslides were also a major concern, and large, dangerous surf also brings the potential for coastal flooding and significant beach erosion. 

“This is a very serious storm,” Green cautioned. “We have not had a hurricane make landfall in quite some time. So none of us really have experienced this really in, you know, the last couple of decades.” 

Maps show storm warnings, path

In a worst-case scenario, Lala could dump 25 inches of rain onto the Big Island, forecasters said.

What’s more, Lala could produce a storm surge as high as 3 feet along the coast, along with large waves and life-threatening rip current conditions.

A hurricane warning was in effect for the Big Island of Hawaii, while a tropical storm warning was in place for Maui County, Oahu and Kauai County. Damaging winds that were hitting the Big Island on Saturday were forecast to spread west to the smaller islands on Sunday. 

The hurricane center warned that wind speeds could be significantly higher in elevated areas and on the windward sides of slopes and mountains.

Lala was expected to produce “rainfall totals of 10 to 20 inches across the Big Island, with maximum totals of 25 inches,” the hurricane center said, along with rainfall totals of 8 to 12 inches across windward Maui, and another 4 to 8 inches “across the remainder of the island chain.” 

Hawaii’s preparations for Lala

Green declared a state of emergency on Thursday, anticipating Lala’s arrival. His proclamation activated potential disaster relief funds and directed “all state agencies and officers to cooperate and extend their services, materials, and facilities as may be required to assist in emergency response efforts.”

On Friday, the state announced that its National Guard was prepared to support emergency response efforts. The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources has been working to clear streams and other potential flood zones. 

The National Park Service announced that most areas of Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island would close to visitors by Friday afternoon ahead of the storm’s arrival. The Hawaii Department of Education said all school-sponsored extracurricular activities over the weekend are canceled. It has not been decided if schools will open on Monday. 

The last hurricane to make landfall in Hawaii was Hurricane Iniki in 1992, which struck as a powerful Category 4. Iniki was responsible for six deaths and $3 billion in damage, Green said.