Hawaiians rush for provisions as Hurricane Lane nears
HONOLULU: Hawaii residents scrambled for plywood, water and simple food in stores yesterday as Hurricane Lane bore down on the United States islands and authorities urged people to prepare for ‘‘lifethreatening’’ floods and landslides.
Though the hurricane weakened slightly as it spun across the Pacific Ocean, it remained a powerful category 4 storm, the secondstrongest on the five step SaffirSimpson scale of wind intensity, the US Central Pacific Hurricane Centre said.
Dangerous, hurricaneforce winds were expected to hit the Big Island overnight and slam Maui this afternoon NZ time, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. To the north, Oahu and Kauai remained on ‘‘hurricane watch,’’ meaning they could face such conditions from tomorrow morning.
‘‘Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion,’’ the centre said.
The shelves of a downtown Honolulu Walmart were stripped of items ranging from canned tuna to dog food.
‘‘There’s nothing in there,’’ one shopper said when leaving the store.
City residents used carts to push cases of bottled water and coolers full of ice, after warnings of possible power outages and evacuations. Cars waited in long lines at fuel stations in Honolulu and people could be seen pulling small boats from the water before Lane’s expected storm surge.
Winds of up to 250kmh and as much as 50cm of rain are expected over parts of the archipelago.
United States Navy ships and submarines based in Hawaii were instructed to leave port to avoid damage.