Hurricane weakens, still threatens
Downgraded storm is expected to further weaken as it churns toward the islands.
Tourists watch as waves stirred up by Hurricane Lane crash along the southeast shore of Oahu on Friday. The storm was downgraded to a Category 1, but officials are still assessing the damage it has caused on other Hawaiian islands.
HONOLULU — Hurricane Lane continued to lose power as it churned slowly toward the Hawaiian Islands on Friday, pouring rain on the Big Island while Oahu prepared and waited — still unsure what kind of impact the once-ominous storm would have.
Lane was downgraded to a Category 2 — and then a Category 1 — storm. National Weather Service meteorologist Gavin Shigesato said that by Sunday, it would probably be a tropical storm. “We do expect it to weaken slowly in the next 24 to 48 hours,” he said. It’s also moving very slowly, he said, barely topping 5 mph.
But the fallout from Hurricane Lane was still playing out over the Big Island and neighboring Maui, with flooding, fires, road closures and power outages. “The slow movement of Lane also greatly increases the threat for prolonged heavy rainfall and extreme rainfall totals,” the Central Pacific Hurricane Center said.
Democratic Gov. David Ige cautioned late Friday that Hurricane Lane may not be finished yet. “It is still a powerful and can be a very damaging storm,” Ige said.
As of 2 p.m., the hurricane was located approximately 115 miles west of Kailua-Kona with sustained winds of 85 mph.
Shigesato said that shearing winds were weakening the storm and that the island’s trade winds would probably help push it westward as it loses power.
Parts of the Big Island’s eastern side received about 2 feet of rain in 24 hours, Shigesato said, while Kona, on the western side, had virtually no rain. High surf warnings were in effect on Oahu through 6 p.m. Saturday.
Emergency crews rescued five tourists after a gulch overflowed, flooding their rented home in Hilo. Suzanne Demerais said a small stream was flowing nearby when she arrived with four friends from the Los Angeles area. But the stream turned into a torrent, and the water rose rapidly.
Hawaii County firefighters, who were in touch with the home’s owner, decided to evacuate the group before the water rose further. They floated the five out on their backs, Demerais said. “It was quite an experience ... we weren’t planning to have a hurricane during our vacation time,” she said.
Shigesato said the Big Island remained under a flash flood warning. Oahu was under a flash flood watch.
Maui, which also was getting battered by Hurricane Lane, had to contend with a brush fire that forced evacuations early Friday. Those evacuated were taken to a storm shelter.
Officials said 10 fire companies were battling the blaze. Maui Electric reported 2,600 residents without power early Friday.
Police warned tourists to leave Waikiki Beach before the storm’s arrival in Honolulu. About 1,500 people, mostly on Oahu, were in emergency shelters, said Brad Kieserman of the American Red Cross.
Despite the warnings, people remained on the shoreline taking pictures of waves, while a few surfers — fewer than Thursday — paddled out into the choppy waters, even as police on loudspeakers told them to get out of the water.
Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said he feared people weren’t taking warnings seriously. “Too many people are in the water ... and endangering themselves,” he said. “The good news from yesterday to today: There’s a lot fewer people in the water, but we still have people that are going out.”
Many restaurants and stores were closed in Waikiki, and while some streets were emptier than normal, other areas still bustled with onlookers and the few shops that were open were drawing people inside. Sandbags lined some oceanfront hotels and restaurants. Some tourists, tired of waiting for the hurricane to arrive, returned to their hotel pools.
Employees of the Sheraton Waikiki filled sandbags to protect the oceanfront hotel from surging surf. The Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort designated a ballroom on the third f loor as a shelter for guests and removed lounge chairs from the pool and bar areas.
At Waikiki’s Hilton Hawaiian Village, guest Elisabeth Brinson said staff left a notice that guestrooms would have water and phone service, and a backup generator would power one elevator per building in the event of an outage. Brinson, a native of the United Kingdom now living in Denver, said the open shops were frantic with people buying food, beer and water.
“We knew it was coming, so I tried to just cram as much as I could into the last few days in anticipation so we could cross things off of our list,” said Brinson, who said she was used to hurricanes after living in Florida.
Hawaii’s tourism industry has been booming, with visitors spending $9.26 billion in the first half of this year — up 10.8% from the same period last year, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority. The agency’s president and chief executive, George Szigeti, issued a statement urging visitors to take hurricane warnings seriously.
“No one should get complacent about Hurricane Lane until the all-clear message has been delivered,” he said. “This is a very unpredictable hurricane that has already battered the island of Hawaii’s east side with drenching rain and flooding damage. Residents and visitors statewide need to follow the advice of our civil defense officials to shelter in place, be careful and stay safe.”
United Airlines canceled its Friday flights to and from Maui. Hawaiian Airlines canceled all Friday f lights by its commuter carrier, Ohana by Hawaiian.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency had moved several container ships with food, water, generators and other supplies into the region ahead of Hurricane Hector, which skirted past the islands over a week ago, Administrator Brock Long said. Warehouses were double-stocked with emergency supplies, and federal officials were working with grocers to ensure stores would have enough food.
The central Pacific gets only four or five named storms a year. Hawaii is rarely hit; its last major storm was Iniki in 1992.