Flash Flood and Mudslides Cause Widespread Damage

Hawaii has been hit by flash floods and mudslides that have swept away homes after Category One Hurricane Lala skirted Big Island over the weekend, leaving one person dead, according to officials. Heavy rains and winds were strong enough to sweep around 100 homes off their foundations on the Big Island.

More than 200,000 households were without power, and officials warned that the tropical storm is predicted to progress west for the next couple of days. The storm’s eyewall howled within 30 miles (48 km) of Big Island’s South Point overnight, but it was close enough to bring flash flooding, Hawaii County said on Sunday.

Impact and Response to the Storm

After gaining hurricane strength on Saturday afternoon, packing wind speeds of 91 mph, Lala’s winds have now decreased to near 65 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center’s latest advisory at 20:00 EDT (00:00 GMT) on Sunday. Despite not making landfall, the storm dumped up to 32 inches (81 cm) of rain in places, sending torrents raging down mountainsides.

Although Lala has since weakened to a tropical storm and was tracking westward, south of Hawaii, the danger is not over, say officials; Tropical storm warnings remain in effect for all eight of Hawaii’s major islands on Sunday. Governor Josh Green said there “amazingly” did not seem to have been any wider loss of life from the properties that were washed away.

“There were a lot of people that went to hospital for minor accidents,” Green said at a press conference — About 180 Hawaii National Guard members were deployed to help with the emergency response.

Historical Context and Climate Concerns

Some 219,000 customers had lost electricity on Hawaii as of Sunday afternoon local time, according to tracker PowerOutage; Three hospitals also lost power, but they had backup generators. Big Island’s two main airports, Hilo International and Ellison Onizuka Kona, were temporarily closed, but have since reopened.

According to the governor, 190 flights have been postponed, while In Maui, some residents were left without water supply on Saturday; Iniki, a powerful Category Four storm, was the last hurricane to hit Hawaii back in 1992. It caused six deaths and $3 billion in damage after making landfall on the southern coast of Kauai.

Hurricane season in the US has been relatively quiet the last few years; the last major storm was Category Three Hurricane Milton, which hit Florida in October 2024. This year has seen a strong El Niño develop in the Pacific, driven in part by climate change. As hurricanes and typhoons feed off warm sea waters, this spike in ocean temperatures could facilitate a higher number of storms that grow to have a greater intensity.