Slow-moving Hurricane Lane brings deluges to Hawaii.
HONOLULU — Hurricane Lane weakened Friday as it headed toward the Hawaiian Islands, but it still brought torrential rains that immersed a city in waist-deep water and forced people to flee flooding homes, while others jumped off seawalls with boogie boards into the turbulent ocean.
As many dealt with flooding and even brush fires, swimmers and surfers ignored warnings from authorities and plunged into powerful waves at Oahu’s famed Waikiki Beach, which was closed.
Emergency officials said repeatedly over loudspeakers: “Please get out of the water! It’s very dangerous!” Honolulu’s mayor pleaded with tourists that they were putting themselves in danger as the storm churned closer.
The National Weather Service downgraded the storm to a Category 1 with winds of 74 to 95 mph as it headed north toward the islands. It was expected to veer west, skirting the islands, but still threatened to bring heavy rains and strong, gusty winds statewide, meteorologist Gavin Shigesato said.
A hurricane watch for Hawaii’s most western inhabited islands, Kauai and Niihau, was downgraded to a tropical storm watch. Still, the hurricane center warned that Lane’s slow movement increases the potential for prolonged heavy rainfall that’s expected to cause major flash flooding and landslides.
The outer bands of the hurricane dumped as much as 3 feet of rain in 48 hours on the mostly rural Big Island. The main town of Hilo, population 43,000, was flooded Friday with waist-high water as landslides shut down roads.
Margaret Collins, 69, woke up Thursday night to the sound of moving water in her Hilo backyard.
“So I got up out of bed and looked out my bedroom window and saw water 3 feet high gushing past my window,” she said. “And that’s when I realized I was standing in water.”
“My house is completely inundated with mud water,” said Collins, who was told the damage wouldn’t be covered by insurance. She hopes she can get federal assistance.
Elsewhere on the Big Island, the National Guard and firefighters rescued six people and a dog from a flooded home, while five California tourists were rescued from another house.
A different type of evacuation took place on Oahu — the state’s most populated island.
Officials with the Department of Land and Natural Resources transferred about 2,000 rare Hawaiian snails from a mountain marsh to offices in downtown Honolulu.
Some of the snails are the last of their kind, including one named George that’s the sole remaining Achatinella apexfulva in captivity. Staff members are trying to keep him safe in case he’s able to reproduce.
As flooding hit the Big Island, brush fires broke out in areas of Maui and Oahu susceptible to flames.
Almost 16,000 homes and businesses on the islands lost power, but service was restored to some, Hawaiian Electric spokesman Peter Rosegg said.
Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said about 2,000 people were in shelters, mostly in Oahu.