Hawaii’s southern islands are bracing for a direct hit from Hurricane Noro. Hurricane Noro is the latest in a series of Pacific storms to hit Hawaii during this year’s super-super El Niño-fueled tropical season.
The state is facing severe damage from its third hurricane in just six weeks, with potentially life-threatening flooding and landslides likely to occur again.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Noro had sustained winds of 85 miles per hour as of 2 a.m. local time on Friday, rapidly intensifying into a Category 1 hurricane. The hurricane was about 320 miles south of the Big Island of Hawaii and was moving mostly north.
The Big Island of Hawaii will be the worst affected by the roe. The roe will continue to strengthen and will be at its closest approach late Friday to Saturday local time. Extreme rain poses the most serious threat, but slag also brings strong winds and treacherous seas.
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Hurricane Lara also approached the Big Island in mid-August as a Category 1 storm, causing devastating flooding there. On the other side of the state, Hurricane Lowell hit Kauai and Niihau as a Category 2 storm in early September.
Hawaii Governor Josh Green has declared a storm-related state of emergency for the third time this month in anticipation of the storm’s impact.
Noro is expected to approach the Big Island as either a high-end Category 2 hurricane or a major Category 3 hurricane.
Some of Noro’s outermost rain bands began to brush over the Big Island Thursday night local time. It will reach more parts of the island on Friday and spread to Maui, Lanai and Molokai by Saturday.
The National Hurricane Center said 10 to 15 inches of rain could fall on the eastern and southern parts of the Big Island into Sunday, with up to 35 inches possible in the steepest terrain. Last month, Hawai’i Island’s steep mountains squeezed more than 40 inches of rain from Hurricane Lara’s belt, causing devastating flash flooding that the island is still recovering from.
Noro’s rainfall is expected to be less, but still significant on the west side of the island. Five to eight inches of rain is possible there, with double-digit totals possible in some locations.
On Maui, 4 to 8 inches are possible, but isolated amounts are up to 15 inches. About 1 to 3 inches of rain is expected in other parts of the mainland.
Noro’s approach as a potential major hurricane means wind damage is also a considerable threat. Tropical storm-force winds of more than 40 mph are possible on the south side of Hawaii Island from Friday through at least Saturday, and hurricane-force winds of more than 125 mph are possible on the south side of the Big Island. Stronger wind gusts are possible at higher elevations on the island.
Gov. Greene said in a social media post that state and courthouses, public schools and the University of Hawaii will be closed on Thursday and Friday on the Big Island, and Maui will also be closed on Friday.
County officials have opened evacuation shelters on the Big Island. “If your home has flooded before or is at risk, please consider moving to a safer shelter before the storm hits in earnest,” Hawaii County Mayor Kimo Alameda said in a news release Wednesday. “The ground remains saturated, so flooding can occur quickly.”
Greene said at a news conference Wednesday that the state has also set aside 100 hotel rooms for Big Island residents who wish to evacuate. At the same meeting, Department of Human Services Director Joseph Campos said hundreds of people across the state were still being housed in hotels after being evacuated from previous natural disasters, including Hurricanes Lara and Lowell.
Dangerous waters will expand offshore and peak on Friday and Saturday. The rough conditions are likely to continue into the weekend and into next week, even as the hurricane begins moving westward from the island Sunday night into Monday.
This year’s Super El Niño, with extremely warm ocean waters and a lack of storm-generating wind shear, helped turn the Pacific Ocean into a factory for powerful tropical systems.
Noro is one of 19 named storms (including three Category 5 hurricanes) to hit the eastern and central Pacific Ocean so far, with two months left in the season. 17 occur in the eastern Pacific basin, where up to 15 storms typically form throughout the season.
For the second time this month, three hurricanes, Noro, Odalis, and Polo, are forming simultaneously in the Pacific Ocean.
Polo, still roaring off the coast of southern Mexico, is one of five storms this season that met the criteria for extreme rapid intensification, with wind speeds increasing by more than 58 miles per hour in 24 hours. As the Earth and oceans warm due to fossil fuel pollution, hurricanes are rapidly becoming more intense.
