Hurricane Lane weakens but still packing wallop
HONOLULU (AP) — Hurricane Lane has weakened as it approaches Hawaii but was still expected to pack a wallop, forecasters said Wednesday.
The National Weather Service said tropical-storm-force winds could begin as early as Wednesday afternoon on the Big Island.
The hurricane was about 305 miles (490 kilometers) south of Kailua-Kona and moving northwest toward other islands.
Meteorologist Chevy Chevalier in Honolulu says winds slowed overnight from 160 mph to 155 mph (259 to 250 kph), prompting a downgrade of the hurricane from a Category 5 to a Category 4.
He says it may diminish to a Category 3 by Thursday afternoon but that would still be a major hurricane.
Chevalier says that by early Friday, the hurricane is forecast to be a Category 2 with winds up to 110 mph (177 kph) and the center located west of Hawaii Island and south of Honolulu.
“We expect it to gradually weaken as it gets closer to the islands,” Chevalier said. “That being said, on our current forecast, as of the afternoon on Thursday, we still have it as a major hurricane.”
With winds to 130 mph (209 kph), the hurricane could cause catastrophic damage.
Hawaii residents have rushed to stores to stock up on bottled water, ramen, toilet paper and other supplies as they faced the threat of heavy rain, flash flooding and high surf.
Public schools on the Big Island and in Maui County closed Wednesday until further notice.
Hawaii Gov. David Ige is allowing non-essential state employees on the Big Island and Maui to go on administrative leave. Employees on Hawaii and Maui islands who work in disaster response as well as in hospitals and prisons are required to report to their jobs, the governor said.
The hurricane was moving at 8 mph (15 kph), said meteorologist Melissa Nye.
“We are starting to see some of the rain show up on the Big Island radar,” she said. Offshore buoys also had detected wave action associated with the storm.
A hurricane watch remained in effect for Oahu and other smaller islands, meaning tropical storm-force winds, excessive rain and large swells could arrive starting Wednesday.
The central Pacific gets fewer hurricanes than other regions, with about only four or five named storms a year, and Hawaii rarely gets hit. The last major storm to hit was Iniki in 1992. Others have come close in recent years.
“Winds tend to steer storms away from there,” said Princeton University climate scientist Gabe Vecchi. He also said upper level winds, called shear, tend to be strong enough to tear storms apart.
Kauai resident Mike Miranda was 12 when Hurricane Iniki devastated the island 26 years ago. “A lot of people are comparing the similarities between Iniki and Lane,” he said.
Iniki’s turn into the islands was sudden, he recalled.
“I remember how very little rain fell. But I remember the wind being the strongest force of nature I’ve ever witnessed and probably the scariest sounds I’ve ever heard in my life,” he said.
Miranda said his family is used to preparing for hurricane season.
“A lot of people who moved here and never experienced a hurricane . they’re the ones rushing to the store,” he said.
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Associated Press writers Dan Joling in Anchorage, Alaska, and Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.
Bryce and Dom Boeder of Waimea, Kauai, load their truck with storm supplies in the parking lot of a Walmart store in Lihue, on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018. Hurricane Lane “is forecast to move dangerously close to the main Hawaiian islands as a hurricane later this week, potentially bringing damaging winds and life-threatening flash flooding from heavy rainfall,” the weather service’s Central Pacific Hurricane Center warned as it got closer to the state. (Dennis Fujimoto/The Garden Island via AP)
This NASA satellite imagery shows Hurricane Lane in the Central Pacific Ocean southeast of the Hawaiian Islands Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018. South Point on the Big Island of Hawaii is outlined at top left. Hawaii residents rushed to grocery stores Tuesday to stock up on bottled water, ramen and toilet paper as they faced the threat of heavy rain, flash flooding and high surf from the powerful and erratic hurricane expected to churn close to the islands or directly over them. The National Weather Service issued a hurricane watch for Hawaii, Maui and other smaller islands, meaning tropical storm-force winds, excessive rain and large swells could arrive starting Wednesday. (NASA via AP)
Brianna Sugimura unloads supplies for riding out the storm while her children, Radon-Kai and Kanaloa watch in the parking lot of a Walmart store Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018, in Lihue, on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. Hurricane Lane “is forecast to move dangerously close to the main Hawaiian islands as a hurricane later this week, potentially bringing damaging winds and life-threatening flash flooding from heavy rainfall,” the weather service’s Central Pacific Hurricane Center warned as it got closer to the state. (Dennis Fujimoto/The Garden Island via AP)
Residents from the Hawaii Health Systems Corp., Kauai Region, including Samuel Mahelona Memorial Hospital, and the Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital, enjoy the tidal ponds at the Lydgate Park in Wailua, on the island of Kauai, in Hawaii, with the help of students from the Okinawa Prefectural College of Nursing, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018. Hurricane Lane “is forecast to move dangerously close to the main Hawaiian islands as a hurricane later this week, potentially bringing damaging winds and life-threatening flash flooding from heavy rainfall,” the weather service’s Central Pacific Hurricane Center warned as it got closer to the state. (Dennis Fujimoto/The Garden Island via AP)
This NASA satellite imagery shows Hurricane Lane in the Central Pacific Ocean southeast of the Hawaiian Islands at 2:01 p.m. HST (21:01 GMT) Monday, Aug. 20, 2018. National Weather Service forecasters warn that the entire state of Hawaii needs to brace for a possible hurricane strike because of the uncertainty of Lane’s path and its intensity. As of Monday, the storm is about 600 miles (966 kilometers) southeast of Hilo on the Big Island, or about 800 miles (1,287 kilometers) from the state’s capital city of Honolulu. (NASA via AP)