Hurricane Lala weakened to a tropical storm on Sunday after its eyewall skirted Hawaii without making landfall. But it continued to punish the state with hurricane-force gusts and pounding rain, reaching a total of nearly three feet (one meter) in places and sending raging torrents down mountain slopes.
A search-and-rescue mission including Civil Defense, the National Guard and a Coast Guard helicopter 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 Big Island's southern tip, authorities said.
“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,” Hawaii County Mayor Kimo Alameda said early Sunday.
At least one person died in a vehicle wreck in the South Point area of the Big Island, Gov. Josh Green said Saturday.
Honolulu was bearing the brunt of Sunday morning’s weather as tropical storm conditions spread westward across the island chain. The Honolulu Fire Department had launched dozens of weather-related responses by 2 a.m. local time Sunday, including 58 reports of downed trees, 39 blown roofs, 12 downed power lines, 12 arcing-wire situations and one swimmer rescue, according to a statement from the city.
Much of the state remained under a flash flood warning, though the National Hurricane Center downgraded the Big Island to a flood advisory lSunday. Heavy rain, mudslides, downed trees, active flooding and downed power lines were among the biggest threats, weather service meteorologist Stephen Parker said.
“Basically, the best thing to do right now is just stay home for a bit longer,” he said. “The storm won’t last forever and once those kind of threats get cleaned up, it will be safe to be out and about again.”
More than 200,000 homes and businesses were without power by 10:30 a.m. local time, according to the utility tracker poweroutage.us. That included nearly two-thirds of the power customers on the Big Island. At least three hospitals were operating on generator power, the governor said.
Powerful waves pounded the Big Island’s coast as Lala slowly brushed by. Just missing landfall, the eyewall didn't weaken, and its winds pounded the mountainsides. Waterways swelled with fast-moving runoff as bands of rain blew nearly sideways. The storm struck three years to the month after the state experienced the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in more than a century.
Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Oahu, Kauai and Niihau, raising the possibility of destructive flooding and even wildfires kicked up by strong winds on the drier sides of the islands.
The heaviest rain Sunday morning was falling on Lanai, Moloka’i and Oahu, while the highest winds were gusts over 100 mph (161 kph) at the towering Mauna Kea volcano on the Big Island, Parker said.
As of 11 a.m. in Hawaii, Lala was centered about 140 miles (220 kilometers) west of Honolulu with top sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory. The storm was moving west-northwest at about 16 mph (28 kph).
The advisory said little change in storm intensity is expected through Monday and forecasters expect Lala could become a hurricane again on Tuesday or Wednesday well west of the island chain.
Some higher-altitude places on the Big Island, dominated by Mauna Kea, have been hit with as much as 35 inches (89 centimeters) of rain. That's enough to loosen steep slopes where some of the 210,000 islanders live off the grid in improvised housing.
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.
The beloved Punalu’u Bake Shop on in Naalehu, Big Island, a tourist hotspot and major local employer, was severely damaged. Zachary Kennedy, the manager of the Hawaiian sweet bread bakery, said water rushed through their factories and retail store, leaving behind around three feet (1 meter) of mud.
“This is a different level of damage, it’s literally catastrophic,” Kennedy said.
Kate McLellan, a resident on Oahu’s North Shore, was still waiting for the worst of the storm to strike after her power went out Sunday morning. She was glued to the weather network, monitoring Lala's progress.
In March and April, her community was hit by back-to-back storms moving so slowly that weeks of heavy rain and high winds kept residents on high alert. Memories of that storm were "giving that same uncertainty and hesitation and panic and anxiety,” McLellan said.
The state’s preparation and communication during the storm has been better than in the past, she said. Before the storm hit, she spotted crews trimming trees near power lines and digging out passages for streams leading to the ocean.
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Associated Press writers Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, Alexa St. John and Ed White contributed.
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Schuettler is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
