Hawaii storm floods streets, stalls travel
Rough weather still ahead for islands; rains expected to linger into week
HONOLULU — A strong storm packing high winds and extremely heavy rain flooded roads and knocked out power across Hawaii, with officials warning Monday of potentially worse conditions ahead.
The National Weather Service said the storm brings the threat of “catastrophic flooding” in the coming days as a low pressure system slowly moves from east to west and lingered on the edge of the archipelago.
“Now is the time to make sure you have an emergency plan in place and supplies ready should you need to move away from rising water,” said Gov. David Ige, who issued a state of emergency for all of the state’s islands Monday night.
On Oahu, where four shelters had been opened, most of the beaches in Waikiki were empty Monday as only a few people walked with umbrellas during passing heavy showers. Roadways were flooding in the area and cars crept through downtown as water gushed out of manhole covers.
On Maui, power failures and flooding already have been reported, with more than a foot of rain falling in some areas.
The relentless rain forced three couples from the U.S. mainland to postpone their Maui elopements, said Nicole Bonanno, owner of Bella Bloom Floral, a wedding florist and boutique in Wailea.
The weather also led to delayed flower deliveries, a lei company with no power and employees braving flooded roads littered with debris, Bonanno said.
“The roads, everything are a mess,” she said. “There are lots of trees down.”
Maui resident Jimmy Gomes was waiting for the lights to come back on at his home Monday after losing power at 6 p.m. Sunday. His rain gauge measured 7 inches: “I haven’t seen this kind of rain in a long time,” he said.
“Last night the wind was howling,” he said. “But this morning, it came in really foggy and it rained, then it stopped.”
Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth declared a state of emergency Sunday for potentially heavy rainfall and strong winds.
Some areas south of Hilo were hit hard with extremely heavy rain over the weekend, weather officials said.
All islands still face the threat of flash flooding, lightning strikes, landslides and strong winds over the next two days, according to the National Weather Service.
Oahu and Kauai could see the brunt of the storm Monday and today. But for Maui and the Big Island, which have already been soaked, “it’s not going to take a lot of additional rain to really lead to big problems,” said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration meteorologist Robert Ballard.
The winter weather system known as a “Kona low” prompted emergency alerts throughout the weekend while delivering wind, rain and even blizzard conditions at some of Hawaii’s highest elevations.
A weekend blizzard warning was issued for the state’s highest peak, on the Big Island.
Snow is not rare at the summit of Mauna Kea, which is nearly 14,000 feet high. The last time there was a blizzard warning for the summit was in 2018. No residents live at the summit, but there are telescope observatories and other offices.
The weather service said there were reports of 8 inches of snow on the road below the top of Mauna Kea, and officials were working to get to the summit to get more measurements. The forecast was for a foot of snow at the mountain’s peak.
There were also strong winds, with gusts of nearly 90 mph recorded atop Mauna Kea.