One person was killed in a storm-related car crash as Hurricane Lala brought fierce winds and pouring rain to Hawaii’s Big Island on Saturday.
Footage on social media showed floodwaters rising in Hilo, overtaking roadways and bridges as Lala dumped rain on Hawaii’s Big Island.
More than 100,000 utility customers in the state, most on the Big Island, were without electricity, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us.
The National Hurricane Center warned of damaging winds and heavy rain across Big Island and Maui County overnight, spreading westwards into Sunday.
Maximum sustained winds near 75 mph with higher gusts were recorded as the storm advanced. Forecasters expected hurricane conditions to persist on the Big Island of Hawaii overnight, producing 10 to 20 inches of rain, with maximum totals of 25 inches possible.
A flash flood warning was issued for the Kau District of the Big Island.
With the worst likely yet to come, Honolulu Fire Chief Sheldon Hao said first responders have responded to 40 reports of damaged roofs and downed trees.
Lala making landfall on the Big Island would mark history, as a hurricane hasn’t done so in 155 years.
“Hurricane Lala is passing just south of Hawaiʻi Island, where winds are peaking and some areas have already received more than 13 inches of rain,” Green said on X. “Conditions are worsening across Maui County, Oʻahu and Kaua‘i tonight.”
Green, speaking in a video update, said he’s started the process that will lead to the declaration of a major disaster. He did not provide further details about the fatality.
Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said at a news conference that search and rescue crews were working in dire conditions at Oahu’s Lulumahu Falls Trail to find a hiker.
Additionally, Honolulu Ocean Safety Department director Kurt Lager said lifeguards made 59 rescues Saturday. He urged people not to get in the water on Sunday.
“It’s not a day to come to the beach,” he said at the news conference. “It’s not a day to go paddling or surfing.”
The most inundated part of the island is its windward or eastern side, with higher elevations getting both precipitation and the strongest winds, hurricane center director Michael Brennan said in a video update on Saturday.
Though the center’s forecast cone for the hurricane puts it in line with a historic, direct hit on the Big Island, forecasters late Saturday morning said a developing low-pressure trough to the west could cause Lala to brush by to the south.
The tropical cyclone could strengthen in the next few hours, with its most-damaging time frame being the next 6 to 12 hours, Brennan said. But afterward, the impacts of interacting with the Big Island will weaken it significantly, hurricane center forecasters said.
Earlier, it said Lala’s maximum sustained winds had increased to 75 mph, making it a Category 1 hurricane. Sustained winds were clocked at 49 mph Saturday night, with one gust reaching 73 mph, the hurricane center said.
The eyewall was forecast to move over or near the island’s southern end by the evening, lashing its worst winds at volcanic slopes thousands of feet above sea level.
Forecasters said higher elevations on the island, dominated by the towering Mauna Kea volcano, could get as much as 25 inches of rain.
That could cause life-threatening mudslides in a mountainous area where people live off the grid in improvised housing, and authorities urged them to find safe shelters quickly.
Bobby Camara, a 75-year-old lifelong resident of the Big Island, said he planned to “hunker down, cross my fingers, hope the lights don’t go out” at a care home just outside Hilo. He said gas stations were busy as people sought fuel for chain saws and vehicles.
“I think stocking up is part of life over here. ... You learn to be self-reliant,” Camara said.
Gov. Josh Green described it as an “enormous storm,” and warned of destructive flooding and even the possibility of wildfires kicked up by strong winds across the island chain. Electricity was knocked out for 10% of customers on the Big Island, according to poweroutage.us.
Mike Caputo, who lives in Keaau, near the island’s east coast, said the main concern was flash flooding and fallen trees, especially albizia, a common tree.
“They’re not very sturdy, but they grow extremely large,” said Caputo, 50, a local fire captain. “They can make roads impassable. I made sure my trees were trimmed a few days ago.”
The Big Island was under a hurricane warning, and tropical storm warnings were issued for the islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Oahu, Kauai and Niihau.
A Category 3 hurricane hit the northeast corner of the Big Island in 1871, according to research by a University of Hawaii atmospheric scientist. The latest forecast has Lala striking “very close to the southern tip of the Big Island,” said Vanessa Almanza, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Honolulu.
Shelters were opened, events were canceled and ranchers were urged to leave their cattle in pastures, rather than structures that might collapse. “It doesn’t take landfall to create destruction,” Almanza said.
The hurricane center predicted 8 to 12 inches of total rainfall across Maui and the lower elevations of the Big Island, and 4 to 6 inches across the island chain.
Officials urge taking the storm seriously
State Rep. Jeanné Kapela called for people to remain alert. The southern end of the island is remote and rural, with agriculture including coffee and cattle, but it’s growing in population because of its affordability. Kapela was especially worried about people who live off the grid.
“If you feel now that your house doesn’t have a great roof or might not be able to withstand hurricane force winds, then first things first you go to a family or friend’s house and you kind of hunker down there,” she said in a text message to The Associated Press.
Many Hawaiians are still dealing with the aftermath of devastating floods in March. Growers still recovering are worried about more damage, according to Hawaii Farm Bureau director Brian Miyamoto.
Wildfire risks increase during windy weather
As winds ramped up across the islands, Almanza said dry and breezy conditions outside the storm would elevate fire concerns.
In 2023 the Maui town of Lahaina burned during extreme winds as a hurricane passed far to the south.
“Since the fire, everybody is way more aware of weather in general and our environment and things that are happening,” said Archie Kalepa of Lahaina, who is well known in the area for his surfing, paddling and other ocean skills.
Kauai, which is several islands northwest up the archipelago from the Big Island, is where Hurricane Iniki made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in 1992 — an El Nino year like this one, when a warming of the Pacific near the equator increases Pacific hurricane activity and affects weather patterns across the globe.
“It did $3 billion worth of damage. It destroyed thousands of homes, and it did kill six people,” said Steven Businger, the University of Hawaii atmospheric scientist. “We just can never know if a storm is going to turn.”
