Hurricane Lala weakened into a tropical storm on Sunday after skirting Hawaii without making landfall, but officials said its fierce winds and torrential rain still caused major damage, sweeping about 100 homes off their foundations on the Big Island.
Gov. Josh Green said authorities do not believe anyone was killed when the homes were washed away. Earlier, crews had launched a search-and-rescue operation in the coastal communities of Na’alehu and Wai’ohinu, near the southern end of the Big Island.
Green addressed the situation at a news conference as the tropical storm continued lashing the islands with powerful gusts and relentless downpours, with rainfall totals approaching three feet in some areas.
On Oahu, Cynthia Channels, a community organizer who helps unhoused residents and families in need, has been driving through neighborhoods in her pickup truck to check on the damage. She said the wind has been the most frightening and destructive part of the storm.
“The winds are really bad, people’s shingles are falling off the roofs,” Channels said.
Green also said officials have not determined whether a Saturday vehicle crash that killed one person in the South Point area of the Big Island was connected to the storm.
Storm hits islands with flooding and power outages
Honolulu, on Oahu, was taking the hardest hit as tropical storm conditions moved west across the Hawaiian island chain. By noon local time Sunday, the Honolulu Fire Department had handled more than 600 weather-related calls, including 147 reports of fallen trees. A city statement also cited roofs torn away, downed power lines and the rescue of one swimmer.
Flash flood warnings remained in effect across much of Hawaii, although the National Hurricane Center lowered the Big Island from a flood warning to a flood advisory on Sunday.
“Basically, the best thing to do right now is just stay home for a bit longer,” weather service meteorologist Stephen Parker 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 midday, according to the utility tracker poweroutage.us. That included nearly two-thirds of customers on the Big Island. At least three hospitals were operating on generator power, the governor said, adding that damage to roads and several small bridges was making some places hard to reach.
“Everyone is safe and healthy,” said Green, a medical doctor who previously worked in emergency departments of remote hospitals on the Big Island. “But boy, a lot of work ahead.”
Powerful waves pounded the Big Island’s coast. Just missing landfall, the eyewall didn’t weaken, and its winds pounded mountainsides as bands of rain blew nearly sideways. The storm came three years after the state experienced the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in more than a century.
Lala isn’t losing strength as wind and rain lash Hawaii
Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Oahu, Kauai and Ni’ihau, raising the possibility of destructive flooding.
The heaviest rain Sunday was falling on Lanai, Moloka’i and Oahu, while the highest wind gusts topped 100 mph 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 west of Honolulu with top sustained winds of 65 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory. The storm was moving west-northwest at about 16 mph.
The advisory said the storm’s strength is expected to change little through Monday, and forecasters expect Lala could become a hurricane again on Tuesday or Wednesday when it has moved 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 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 took precautions.
A beloved bakery is damaged
The Punalu’u Bake Shop 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 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 after her power went out Sunday morning, glued to the weather network.
In March and April, her community was hit by back-to-back storms with heavy rain and high winds, keeping residents on high alert. Memories of that storm were “giving that same uncertainty and hesitation and panic and anxiety,” McLellan said.
Nicole Clark has been sheltering in place on Kauai and is prepared to stay there after her school was canceled Monday for her kids because of a tree blocking a road. Still, she said she’s inspired and comforted by the sense of community established across Hawaii during storms like this.
“It’s a good feeling during hard times,” Clark said.
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