A Category 1 hurricane is passing close to Hawaii this weekend, bringing damaging winds, heavy rain and widespread power cuts. Authorities have urged residents to stay indoors and prepare for outages.
The storm, called Lola in Danish wire copy and Lala by U.S. agencies, is circulating near the Hawaiian Islands. DR, citing Ritzau, reports that strong winds and rain have hit the American state, prompting official warnings about dangerous conditions.
According to DR, the Hawai’i Emergency Management Agency advises residents to seek safe shelter with supplies in case the power goes out. The agency also recommends avoiding unnecessary trips outdoors while the storm passes.
Citing AFP, DR reports that the hurricane has not made a direct hit. Lola passed to the side of the state’s largest island and has reached wind speeds of 120 km/h. The center of the storm is expected to remain south of the islands.
Save up to 2,800 DKK on Your Electricity Bill
FindElpriser helps you switch electricity providers quickly and easily.
Rain, outages and warnings
The National Hurricane Center stated late Saturday local time that damaging winds and heavy rain would continue across the islands of Hawaii and Maui overnight. The agency said the conditions would spread westward over Oahu and Kauai on Sunday.
The NHC’s public advisory lists maximum sustained winds of 75 mph, or 120 km/h. Hurricane warnings are in effect for Hawaii County, with tropical storm warnings for Maui County, Oahu and Kauai County, per the same advisory.
Rainfall forecasts are substantial. The NHC projects 10 to 20 inches of rain on the Big Island, with local maxima up to 25 inches, and 8 to 12 inches on windward Maui. Other islands can expect 4 to 6 inches, raising the risk of life-threatening flooding and mudslides.
DR, citing the outage-tracking site PowerOutage.us, reports that more than 100,000 electricity customers in Hawaii have lost power. CNBC also reports tens of thousands of customers without electricity and describes the conditions as life-threatening.
AccuWeather notes that the system developed from a tropical storm southeast of Hawaii into a Category 1 hurricane early Saturday. Storms are ranked on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which runs up to Category 5.
The mayor of Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, said Friday that authorities had spent several days preparing, according to AFP as cited by DR. He urged residents to stay ready.
Hawaii was last struck by a major hurricane, meaning at least Category 3, in 1992. AFP reports that Hurricane Iniki caused at least six deaths and damage running into billions of dollars.
The Hawai’i County emergency proclamation cites National Weather Service advisories forecasting hurricane conditions on Saturday, August 15. That document underpins local evacuation, shelter and civil defense measures. Readers following weather warnings elsewhere will recognize similar advisory language.
