Storm sweeps Hawaii, brings threat of ‘catastrophic’ floods

HONOLULU – A beardown tempest packing precocious winds and highly dense rainfall flooded roads and downed powerfulness lines and histrion branches crossed Hawaii, with officials informing Monday of perchance worse conditions ahead.

The National Weather Service said the tempest brings the menace of “catastrophic flooding” successful the coming days arsenic a debased unit strategy dilatory moves from eastbound to westbound and lingers connected the borderline of the archipelago.

“Now is the clip to marque definite you person an exigency program successful spot and supplies acceptable should you request to determination distant from rising water,” Gov. David Ige said successful a statement.

On Maui, powerfulness outages and flooding already person been reported, with much than a ft (30 centimeters) of rainfall successful immoderate areas. Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth declared a authorities of exigency Sunday for perchance dense rainfall.

On Oahu, officials opened 4 shelters up of the tempest Sunday night.

All islands inactive look the menace of flash flooding, lightning strikes, landslides and beardown winds implicit the adjacent 2 days, according to the National Weather Service.

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Oahu and Kauai could spot the brunt of the tempest Monday and Tuesday. But for Maui and the Big Island, which person already been soaked, “it’s not going to instrumentality a batch of further rainfall to truly pb to large problems,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration meteorologist Robert Ballard said.

The wintertime upwind strategy known arsenic a “Kona low” prompted exigency alerts passim the play portion delivering wind, rainfall and adjacent blizzard conditions astatine immoderate of Hawaii's highest elevations.

A play blizzard informing was issued for the state's highest peak, connected the Big Island.

Snow is not uncommon astatine the acme of Mauna Kea, which is astir 14,000 feet (4,270 meters) high. The past clip determination was a blizzard informing for the acme was successful 2018. No residents unrecorded astatine the summit, but determination are scope observatories and different offices wherever officials work.

The upwind work said determination were reports of 8 inches (20 centimeters) of snowfall connected the roadworthy beneath the apical of Mauna Kea, and officials were moving to get to the acme to get much measurements. The forecast was for a ft of snowfall astatine the mountain's peak.

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There were besides beardown winds, with gusts of astir 90 mph (138 kph) recorded atop Mauna Kea.

Other areas astatine little elevations besides saw beardown winds, with gusts supra 50 mph (80 kph) recorded astatine respective locations crossed the state, according to upwind officials.

Kona debased is simply a benignant of debased unit strategy that forms adjacent Hawaii during the wintertime season, and it has immoderate unsocial meteorological characteristics, said Ballard, the National Weather Service’s subject and cognition serviceman successful Hawaii.

“What we thin to spot are a tremendous magnitude of tropical moisture gets drawn up from equatorial regions. Kona lows thin to determination dilatory and truthful they tin support dense rainfall and thunder showers focused implicit 1 country for a prolonged magnitude of time, and they tin besides origin beauteous beardown to damaging winds,” Ballard said.

Hawaii has aging dams crossed the authorities that person been problematic during erstwhile storms. In 2006, an earthen partition of Kauai's Kaloko Reservoir collapsed during dense rainfall and sent a question of h2o and mud rushing down a hillside. Seven people, including a large woman, were killed.

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Rainfall successful March caused fears that a dam had breached connected Maui erstwhile floodwaters destroyed homes and inundated roadways. The aforesaid tempest strategy brought damaging floods to Oahu and a landslide connected Kauai.

Ballard said different authorities and national agencies show dams, but that these are the conditions that radical request to beryllium cautious of.

“It’s conscionable a concern that we request to proceed to show and beryllium alert of and marque definite that folks recognize that this is the benignant of concern wherever we tin get flash flooding that happens very, precise suddenly," Ballard said.

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