Hurricane Lala skirts Hawaii’s Big Island as heavy wind and rain lash region

Hurricane Lala downgraded after skirting Big Island as one person dies and over 130,000 households are without power

Hurricane Lala weakened to a tropical storm on Sunday after skirting Hawaii without making landfall, but it wasn’t done punishing the Big Island with hurricane-force gusts. Total rainfall of nearly 3ft (one meter) was expected on the higher windward slopes, turning rivers into raging torrents and threatening mudslides.

The Hawaii governor, Josh Green, said at least one person died in a car accident in the South Point area of the Big Island. 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, and 19 roofs were lost, Green said.

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.

“You definitely want to be home, do not be out on the roads,” said Green, who had earlier described Lala as an “enormous storm”.

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.

The possibility the island could witness its first direct hit from a hurricane in 155 years faded as the eye of the storm passed the island’s southern tip. Landfall was not expected at this point, said National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist Joseph Clark.

However, hurricane-force winds were expected to continue into the overnight hours, with the strongest wind gusts likely in areas of higher terrain, the National Hurricane Center said. Heavy rainfall into Sunday could produce flooding and mudslides, while powerful waves pound the coast, the agency said.

Tropical storm warnings remained in effect for the islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Oahu, Kauai and Niihau as the storm moved west, raising the possibility of destructive flooding and even wildfires kicked up by strong winds.

Forecasters said higher elevations on the island, dominated by the towering Mauna Kea volcano, could get as much as 35 in (89 cm ) of rain. That could cause life-threatening mudslides where some of Big Island’s 210,000 residents 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.

Bobby Camara, a 75-year-old lifelong resident, said he planned to “hunker down, cross my fingers, [and] 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,” Camara said. “You learn to be self-reliant.”

Mike Caputo, who lives in Keaau, near the Big Island’s east coast, said his power generator was ready and a 10,000-gallon (37.8 kiloliter) home water tank was full. He 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.”

Lala intensified from a tropical storm into a hurricane early Saturday as its maximum sustained winds increased to 75 mph (120 kph), the hurricane center reported, making it a category 1 hurricane.

A hurricane last made landfall on the islands in 1992, when Hurricane Iniki – a category 4 storm – lashed Kauai.

The Big Island was last hit directly in 1871, when a category 3 hurricane hit the north-east corner, according to research by a University of Hawaii atmospheric scientist.

The hurricane center predicted 8 to 12in (20.3 to 30.5cm) of total rainfall across Maui and the lower elevations of the Big Island, and 4 to 6in (10.2 to 15.2cm) across the island chain.