Lane soaks Hawaii
20 inches of rain fall on Big Island
HONOLULU — A hurricane unleashed torrents of rain and landslides Thursday on the rural Big Island but didn’t scare tourists away from surfing and swimming at popular Honolulu beaches still preparing for the erratic storm.
Employees of the Sheraton Waikiki resort filled up sandbags as shuttered stores stacked them against the bottom of their glass windows to prepare for rain, flash flooding and damaging surf on Oahu, the most populated island.
Hurricane Lane already lashed the Big Island with nearly 20 inches of rain and was moving closer to Hawaii, a shift that will put the Big Island and Maui “in the thick” of the storm, National Weather Service meteorologist Melissa Dye said. The agency says the storm has weakened to a Category 3 but can still cause damage.
The hurricane, with winds from 111 to 129 mph, was expected to move close to portions of the main islands later Thursday or Friday, bringing surf of 20 feet and a storm
surge of up to 4 feet, forecasters said.
Lane was not projected to make a direct hit on the islands, but officials warned that a lesser blow could still do harm. Some areas could see up to 30 inches of rain.
“Rain has been nonstop for the last half hour or so, and winds are just starting to pick up,” said Pablo Akira Beimler, who lives in Honokaa on the Big Island.
Mr. Beimler, who posted videos of trees being blown sideways, said staying put is about the only choice he has. The road to Hilo was cut off due to landslides, he said.
Roughly 200 miles away on Oahu, Elisabeth Brinson was watching surfers from her balcony at the Hawaiian Hilton Village in Waikiki.
“I don’t think we’re in too much trouble as far as flooding where we are now,” said the United Kingdom native now living in Denver.
Hotel staff left a notice that the rooms will still have water and phone service, and a backup generator will power oneelevator per building.
Ms. Brinson said many shops were closed, and those still open were frantic with people buying food, beer and water to take back to rooms.
“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 Ms. Brinson. “You can’t really do much about the weather.”
Hawaii’s biggest hotels are confident they can keep their guests safe as long as they stay inside, said Mufi Hannemann, CEO of the Hawaii Tourism and Lodging Association.
Members of his association, which include the state’s major hotels, are shifting into high gear with their emergency management plans, he said.
The Marriott Resort Waikiki Beach designated a ballroom on the third floor as a shelter for guests and began removing lounge chairs from the pool and bar area.
“The only concern is those that venture outside of the properties, that would like to hike on a day like this or who would like to still go into the ocean and see what it’s like to take a swim or surf in these kind of waters,” Mr. Hannemann said.
Hotels are warning travelers against that, he said.
Two campers were reported trapped overnight in Waipio Valley, along the Big Island’s northern coast. The campers called authorities Wednesday, but emergency crews could not mount a rescue operation.
“We can’t go in because the roads — there’s a river of water down there,” said Hawaii County Managing Director Wil Okabe.
Shelters are open throughout the islands, with 350 people in them in Oahu. Aid agencies were also working to help Hawaii’s sizable homeless population, many of whom live near beaches and streams that could flood.
As Hurricane Lane moved closer to the islands, it was expected to weaken more rapidly and turn toward the west.
The central Pacific gets fewer hurricanes than other regions, with about only four or five named storms a year.
Hawaii rarely gets hit. The last major storm to hit was Iniki in 1992. Others have come close in recent years.