Hurricane brushes past Hawaii

HONOLULU: Hurricane Douglas gained some strength and began to spin away from many of the Hawaiian Islands as it skirted the state late on Sunday.

Forecasters said a hurricane warning was cancelled for Oahu but remained in effect for Kauai County, including the islands of Kauai and Niihau, which could still be hit by the system with strong wind gusts and rough surf.

“It’s still not out of the realm of possibilities. So we want people to really remain vigilant and stay prepared, at least for tonight,” Eric Lau, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu said on Sunday.

Late Sunday, Douglas was 160 kilometres northwest of Honolulu. It had maximum sustained winds of 150 kph, making it a Category 1 hurricane.

Heavy rain and wind gusts battered Maui during the morning, downing a small tree on the Hana Highway.

Gentle rain fell and blustery winds swayed trees on Oahu, home to the state’s biggest city, Honolulu. Sand and debris washed ashore on a two-lane coastal road. Despite the dangers, surfers rode waves and residents took selfies at a lookout point next to the ocean.

Lau said Douglas would have been a lot worse had its track been 20 or 30 miles (32 to 48 kilometers) to the south.

One reason is that this path put Douglas to the north of the state and not directly over the islands. Another is that this path mostly put the island chain near the southwest quadrant of the storm, which is often less destructive than the northeast and the right side of a hurricane’s eye, Lau said. “We were really playing with a really fine line, a razor thin line between what we’ve experienced today compared to what we could have experienced,” he said.