Lala strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane on Saturday and is already battering parts of Hawaii with strong winds and heavy rain as historic landfall is possible.
Lala will make its closest approach to Hawaii’s Big Island on Saturday afternoon and could make landfall. If it becomes a hurricane, it will be the first hurricane to hit the state in more than 30 years.
As of Saturday morning, the storm was 190 miles south of Hilo, packing winds of 120 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. Tropical storm wind gusts of up to 50 mph were reported near Kealacomo around 10 a.m. local time.
A hurricane warning is in effect for Hawaii Island, with hurricane conditions expected to begin as soon as Saturday afternoon with winds of over 114 mph. The area most likely to receive hurricane-force winds is the southern part of the Big Island, which will be most exposed to Lara’s inner core.
Lala’s most serious threat is torrential rain, which could cause flash flooding across the Hawaiian Islands as the hurricane’s outer rain bands begin to soak the Big Island. The National Hurricane Center is warning of life-threatening flooding and landslides, especially in steep terrain.
This storm could dump more than a foot of rain across much of the Big Island, with isolated rainfall amounts of more than 2 feet possible. More than 12 inches of rain has already fallen in Keanacol in the past 24 hours. One foot of rain in Hilo is equivalent to more than a month of rain in the city.
Up to a foot of rain is expected to fall in parts of Maui where a tropical storm warning is in effect. Tropical storm warnings are also in effect for Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, Kauai and Kahoolawe.
Waves could reach 8 to 12 feet, especially on east-facing coasts where high surf advisories are in place.
Lara’s current path has the center of the storm just south of the Big Island, but the strongest winds are north of the eye and directly over land. These winds can bring down trees and power lines, and rain-soaked soil makes trees more susceptible to falling, further exacerbating the hazard.
As the storm passes through Hawaii, its circulation close to the ground can wobble and become distorted as it plows into the mountain ranges of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. This could cause the center of the storm to push onto land or remain offshore.
Landfall in the Hawaiian Islands (when the center of the eye moves over land) has only occurred a few times in modern records. The last tropical cyclone to make landfall was Tropical Storm Olivia, which made landfall on Maui in 2018, making it the first to make landfall on Maui since record-keeping began in the 1950s.
The last hurricane to make landfall was in 1992, when Category 4 Iniki hit Kauai, making it the strongest hurricane to hit the state on record. Lara will be the first hurricane in history to make landfall on the Big Island.
Lara could also push 1 to 3 feet of storm surge into the normally dry ground along parts of the Big Island coast. Large and dangerous waves will reach east-facing coasts and grow over the weekend, resulting in life-threatening waves, rip currents, coastal flooding, and significant coastal erosion.
In Hilo, grocery stores and gas stations were crowded as people stocked up on essential items, CNN affiliate Hawaii News Now reported. Hawaii County is also providing sandbags to residents around the island.
Hawaii County Mayor Kimo Alameda said, “We have to take all the necessary precautions, right? Batteries, have emergency kits, inform our neighbors and kupuna (elders).” “Our island is large, we have small communities and we are very connected, so please make sure everyone is safe.”
County officials and the National Guard are also talking about pre-positioning supplies to areas hit hard by storms earlier this year, Hawaii News Now reported.
Tropical storms approaching Hawaii typically experience cooling ocean temperatures before reaching the islands, but Lara will remain in warmer waters due to an ongoing marine heatwave extending into California and a Super El Niño.
The El Niño phenomenon is contributing to an increased chance of storms in the central Pacific this year as ocean temperatures rise and upper atmospheric winds that normally can cause storms weaken. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts an above-normal season in the central Pacific, with between five and 13 cyclones expected.
