Downgraded to a tropical storm on Sunday, Lala nevertheless caused considerable damage to the Hawaiian archipelago, without ever making landfall. The Big Island was the hardest hit, with hurricane-force winds, flooding, and landslides.
Hurricane Lala weakened on Sunday, becoming a tropical storm after skirting the Hawaiian coast without making landfall. However, the respite was short-lived: the Big Island continued to experience hurricane-force winds, while rainfall totals approached three feet (nearly one meter) on windward slopes at higher elevations.
These torrential rains have transformed rivers into raging torrents and posed a serious threat of mudslides to several inhabited areas. More than one hundred homes have been destroyed in the South Point area, at the southern tip of the Big Island.
Hawaii Governor Josh Green confirmed that at least one person died in a car accident in the same area of South Point. He also stated that at least nineteen roofs were torn off and that three hospitals were running on generators.
According to the monitoring website PowerOutage.us, more than 200,000 homes and businesses were without power Sunday afternoon on the three main islands of the archipelago. Earlier in the day, this figure was still over 130,000 affected households.
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