Lala weakens but floods and outages batter Hawaii

Lala weakened to a tropical storm Sunday after skirting Hawaii without making landfall, but the storm continued to lash the islands with flooding rain, damaging winds and dangerous surf that left hospitals on generators and tens of thousands of homes without power.

The storm passed south of the island chain after grazing the Big Island, which had been under a hurricane warning Saturday. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said tropical storm conditions were spreading westward Sunday from Maui to Oahu and Kauai, while warning that winds atop mountains and along windward and leeward slopes can be up to 30% stronger than the near-surface winds used to classify storms.

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. It had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph and was moving northwest at about 15 mph, with tropical-storm-force winds extending as far as 175 miles from its center. Forecasters expected Lala to regain hurricane strength by midweek once it was well west of Hawaii.

The immediate threat was water. Forecasters said rainfall totals could reach nearly 3 feet, or up to 35 inches, on higher windward slopes of the Big Island, enough to turn rivers into torrents and trigger life-threatening mudslides. The hurricane center also predicted 8 to 12 inches across Maui and lower elevations of the Big Island, with 4 to 6 inches across the island chain.

Powerful waves pounded the Big Island’s coast as the storm moved by. Winds whipped palm trees, and rain blew nearly sideways as runoff filled streams and roadways.

More than 130,000 households were without power Sunday morning across Hawaii’s three largest islands, according to the utility tracker poweroutage.us. Al Jazeera reported that more than 60,000 households were without power Saturday evening. Gov. Josh Green said at least three hospitals were operating on generator power.

At least one person died in a car accident in the South Point area of the Big Island, Green said. He also said 19 roofs were lost in the “enormous storm” and that crews had already responded to more than 30 damaged road sites.

A search-and-rescue operation involving Civil Defense, the National Guard and the Coast Guard was launched after flash floods apparently swept several occupied homes off their foundations in the coastal communities of Naalehu and Waiohinu, 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.

Tropical storm warnings remained in effect for Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Oahu, Kauai and Niihau. Officials warned that the storm could bring destructive flooding and that strong winds could raise the risk of wildfires.

Residents had prepared for days as shelters opened, events were canceled and ranchers were urged to leave cattle in pastures rather than in structures that could collapse. Some communities were still recovering from devastating floods in March.

Bobby Camara, a 75-year-old lifelong resident near Hilo, said he planned to “hunker down, cross my fingers, hope the lights don’t go out.” He said gas stations were busy as residents bought fuel for chain saws and vehicles.

“I think stocking up is part of life over here…. You learn to be self-reliant,” Camara said.

In Waimea, on the northern side of the Big Island, resident Christine Matsuda 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,” she said.