Hawaii under another hurricane watch as new storm closes in

Hawaii’s Big Island is under a hurricane watch as Tropical Storm Nolo strengthens in the Pacific Ocean, threatening to dump up to 3 feet of rain on the island this week, the National Hurricane Center said.

Nolo formed Wednesday and could become a hurricane by Thursday night, around the time heavy rainfall on the Big Island could also begin, forecasters said. They also warned that the storm could become a major hurricane by the weekend, meaning a Category 3 or higher. 

Along with the hurricane watch, the Big Island is also under a tropical storm warning, while a tropical storm watch is in effect for Maui County.  

Storm Nolo had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph as of Thursday morning local time. Tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 90 miles from its center. Its core was some 455 miles south-southeast of Honolulu and 285 miles south of South Point, which is on the Big Island. 

Nolo is expected to approach the Big Island on Friday and Saturday.

The storm is expected to bring around 15 to 20 inches of rain to the Big Island, with up to 35 inches possible in some areas. The heavy rain could trigger “catastrophic life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in areas of steep terrain,” the hurricane center warned.

Maui could see 5 to 10 inches of rain, with totals of up to 20 inches in some areas. Maui could also see life-threatening flooding and mudslides. The rest of the islands were forecast to get about 1 to 3 inches with 6 inches at most and could see isolated flooding.

Nolo formed as another storm, Hurricane Polo, continued to swirl in the Pacific, off Mexico’s southwestern coast.

The latest storms add to an unsually active season in the Pacific. Earlier this month, Hurricane Lowell brought damaging winds and heavy rain to the western Hawaiian islands of Kauai and Niihau, bringing down trees, damaging roads and knocking out power for thousands.

Last month, Hurricane Lala washed away about 100 homes, triggered landslides and caused widespread power outages as it brushed past Hawaii.