Tropical Storm Lala battered Hawaii’s Big Island with heavy rain and strong winds early Saturday and was forecast to strengthen into a hurricane as it neared land, prompting a rare hurricane warning and raising the prospect of the first hurricane landfall on the island in 155 years.
The National Hurricane Center issued the hurricane warning for the Big Island, while a tropical storm warning remained in effect for Maui County, which includes Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Kahoolawe. Forecasters warned that higher elevations could receive as much as 25 inches (63.5 cm) of rain.
Such rainfall raised the threat of life-threatening mudslides in mountainous areas where many residents live off the grid in improvised housing. Authorities urged those in vulnerable zones to seek safe shelter quickly.
“It doesn’t take landfall to create destruction,” said Vanessa Almanza, a weather service meteorologist in Honolulu, noting that much of a storm’s impact is felt well beyond its center. The latest forecast had Lala striking very close to the southern tip of the Big Island.
Tropical storm-force winds extended outward as far as 220 miles (350 km) and were expected to reach the islands of Oahu and Kauai by Sunday morning. Officials warned that destructive flooding and even wind-driven wildfires were possible across the island chain.
Hawaii has rarely faced a direct hurricane strike. Research of historical newspaper accounts by a University of Hawaii atmospheric scientist indicates that a Category 3 hurricane hit the northeast corner of the island in 1871, the last time a hurricane made landfall there.
The threat of wind-driven fires carries particular resonance for residents, given the deadly blazes that devastated parts of the state in recent years and exposed gaps in emergency response. The prospect of similar conditions has heightened local anxiety as officials moved to open shelters and cancel public events.
“This is an enormous storm,” Governor Josh Green said, as emergency crews and residents braced for impact regardless of whether the island takes a direct hit.
Shelters were scheduled to open across affected areas, and communities prepared for prolonged power outages and road closures. Forecasters cautioned that the storm’s outer bands could deliver dangerous conditions to the wider archipelago through the weekend.
The coming hours will test Hawaii’s readiness for a hazard it rarely confronts, with the storm’s track and intensity expected to determine the scale of flooding, landslides and wind damage across the islands.