Hurricane Lala weakened to a tropical storm Sunday after skirting Hawaii without making landfall, but it wasn’t done punishing the Big Island with hurricane-force gusts. Total rainfall of nearly 3 feet was expected on the higher windward slopes, turning rivers into raging torrents and threatening mudslides.
Tropical storm conditions were spreading westward Sunday from Maui to Oahu and then Kauai, and the National Hurricane Center warned that wind speeds atop mountains and on the windward and leeward slopes are often up to 30% stronger than the near-surface winds used to categorize storms.
Powerful waves pounded the Big Island’s coast as Lala slowly passed by. Howling wind whipped palm trees and waterways swelled with fast-moving runoff from relentless rain that blew nearly sideways.
More than 130,000 households were without power Sunday morning across Hawaii’s three largest islands, according to the utility tracker poweroutage.us. At least three hospitals were operating on generator power, Gov. Josh Green said.
At least one person died in a car accident in the South Point area of the Big Island, while 19 roofs were lost in the “enormous storm,” the governor said Saturday evening. “There have been a lot of roads impacted. Our crews have already been out to more than 30 sites.”
A search-and-rescue mission including Civil Defense, the National Guard and Coast Guard was launched after flash floods apparently swept several occupied homes off their foundations in the coastal communities of Na’alehu and Wai’ohinu, near the island’s southern tip, Hawaii County Mayor Kimo Alameda said early Sunday.
“What makes this very challenging is that there’s rushing water, there’s debris, and there’s boulders on the road and it’s dark,” Alameda said.
What’s next for Lala
Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Oahu, Kauai and Niihau as the storm moves west, raising the possibility of destructive flooding and even wildfires kicked up by strong winds.
As of 2 a.m. Sunday in Hawaii, Lala was centered about 105 miles west-northwest of Kailua-Kona and about 100 miles south of Honolulu, with tropical-storm-force winds extending as much as 175 miles from its center.
Lala was sustaining top winds of 70 mph and moving northwest at about 15 mph. Forecasters expect it to regain hurricane strength midweek once it’s well west of the island chain.
By the time Lala’s completely gone, some higher-altitude places on the Big Island, dominated by the towering Mauna Kea volcano, will have been hit with as much as 35 inches of rain, forecasters said, enough to loosen steep slopes where some of the 210,000 islanders live off the grid in improvised housing.
Residents prepared for worst
As the hurricane approached, shelters were opened, events were canceled and ranchers were urged to leave their cattle in pastures rather than structures that might collapse. Many residents are still dealing with the aftermath of devastating floods in March and were taking precautions.
Bobby Camara, a 75-year-old lifelong resident, 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.
Mike Caputo, who lives in Keaau, near the Big Island’s east coast, said his power generator was ready and a 10,000-gallon home water tank was full. His 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.”
Warnings posted everywhere
Christine Matsuda, who lives in Waimea, on the northern side of the island, said, “Big gusts every few minutes rattle the whole house.”
“We’re finding unexpected leaks in places that don’t see water under normal conditions,” Matsuda 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.
