Hawaii feels effects as Hurricane Lane nears
Pounding surf, heavy rain hit Big Island, move west.
Hurricane Lane HONOLULU — barreled toward Hawaii on Friday, dumping torrential rains that caused flooding on the Big Island as people stocked up on supplies and piled sandbags to shield oceanfront businesses against the increasingly violent surf.
The Category 2 storm was expected to turn west on Saturday before reaching the islands and skirting Oahu — the state’s most populated island. Even without making a direct hit, the system threatened to bring a huge storm surge, high wind and heavy rain, forecasters said.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty in this forecast,” warned Federal Emergency Management Administrator Brock Long, explaining that the rain would continue for the next two to three days. “We hope all citizens are heeding the warning that local officials are putting out.”
On Oahu, gusts rattled windows and roofs in Honolulu’s hillside neighborhood of Nuuanu overnight and scattered tree branches, palm fronds and at least one electrical line across roadways.
A brushfire on the island of Maui forced the relocation of a hurricane shelter in Lahaina as nearby residents were evacuated. Maui fire officials say the fire jumped a highway and was approaching a gas station. The flames spread to 300 acres, and a woman who was burned on the hands and legs was flown to Honolulu, Maui County spokesman Rod Antone said.
The flooding on the Big Island was fueled by as much as 35 inches of rain that fell in 48 hours. National Weather Service meteorologist Chevy Chevalier described flooding on the Big Island as catastrophic.
“The sponge is full,” he said Friday. “There’s nowhere for the water to go except to pond up and flood these areas.”
Police warned tourists to leave the world-famous Waikiki Beach ahead of the storm’s arrival in Honolulu. So far, about 1,500 people, mostly on Oahu, were in emergency shelters, said Brad Kieserman of the American Red Cross.
Emergency crews rescued five California tourists from a home they were renting in Hilo after a nearby gulch overflowed and flooded the house on the Big Island.
Suzanne Demerais said a tiny waterfall and small stream were flowing near the home when she first arrived with four friends from the Los Angeles area. But the stream turned into a torrent, and the river rose rapidly over 24 hours.
Hawaii County firefighters, who were in touch with the home’s owner, decided to evacuate the group before the water rose any higher. They floated the five out on their backs, Demerais said.
“It was quite an experience because we weren’t planning to have a hurricane during our vacation time,” Demerais said.
About 200 miles north of Hilo, on the state’s most populated island of Oahu, employees of the Sheraton Waikiki resort filled sandbags to protect the oceanfront hotel from surging surf.