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One person was killed in a storm-related car crash as Hurricane Lala imposed fierce winds and pouring rain on Hawaii’s Big Island on Saturday, Gov. Josh Green said.
With the worst likely yet to come, Honolulu Fire Chief Sheldon Hao said first responders have responded to 40 reports of damaged roofs and downed trees. More than 84,000 utility customers in the state, most on the Big Island, were without electricity, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us.
Lala making landfall on the Big Island would mark history, as a hurricane hasn’t done so in 155 years.
“Hurricane Lala is passing just south of Hawaiʻi Island, where winds are peaking and some areas have already received more than 13 inches of rain,” Green said on X. “Conditions are worsening across Maui County, Oʻahu and Kaua‘i tonight.”
Green, speaking in a video update, said he’s started the process that will lead to the declaration of a major disaster. He did not provide further details about the fatality.
Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said at a news conference that search and rescue crews were working in dire conditions at Oahu’s Lulumahu Falls Trail to find a hiker.
Additionally, Honolulu Ocean Safety Department director Kurt Lager said lifeguards made 59 rescues Saturday. He urged people not to get in the water on Sunday.
“It’s not a day to come to the beach,” he said at the news conference. “It’s not a day to go paddling or surfing.”
In its latest forecast discussion, National Hurricane Center meteorologists said the hurricane is displaying a possible new track, making it “unclear if Lala will actually make a landfall on the Big Island.”
In an update Saturday night, the center said “the eyewall of Lala is nearing South Point,” on the Big Island, with the hurricane’s official position at 35 miles south of South Point.
Lala was headed northwest at 9 mph, it said.
The tropical cyclone is unleashing what could be life-threatening rain on the Big Island as it produces sustained winds of 75 mph, hurricane center director Michael Brennan said in a video update at 11 a.m. local time.
“Some locations have already picked up more than a foot of rain,” he said. “We’re also seeing numerous hurricane-level wind gusts, especially at higher elevations.”
The most inundated part of the island is its windward or eastern side, with higher elevations getting both precipitation and the strongest winds, Brennan said.
Parts of the windward sides of the Big Island and Maui each reported about a foot of rain or slightly more, the hurricane center said in an update.
“Heavy rain continues to spread across the eastern main Hawaiian Islands,” it said.
Though the center’s forecast cone for the hurricane puts it in line with a historic, direct hit on the Big Island, forecasters late Saturday morning said a developing low-pressure trough to the west could cause Lala to brush by to the south.
The tropical cyclone could strengthen in the next few hours, with its most-damaging time frame being the next 6 to 12 hours, Brennan said. But afterward, the impacts of interacting with the Big Island will weaken it significantly, hurricane center forecasters said.
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Forecasters warn of life-threatening flooding, mudslides and damaging winds, with up to 25 inches of rain possible at higher elevations.
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