Lala strengthens into a hurricane and bears down on Hawaii’s Big Island

HONOLULU — Hawaii’s Big Island was threatened Saturday with its first possible direct hit from a hurricane in 155 years as Hurricane Lala roared in the Pacific Ocean and gusty wind, waves and rain pounded the region.

The National Hurricane Center said Lala’s maximum sustained winds increased to 75 mph, making it a Category 1 hurricane. The eyewall was forecast to move over or near the island’s southern end by the evening, its worst winds lashing at volcanic slopes thousands of feet above sea level.

Gov. Josh Green, noting rainfall of 2 inches an hour, said that “people should be sheltering in place now.”

Forecasters said higher elevations on the island, dominated by the towering Mauna Kea volcano, could get as much as 25 inches of rain. That could cause life-threatening mudslides in a mountainous area where people live off the grid in improvised housing.

Earlier the governor called it an “enormous storm,” capable of destructive flooding and even the possibility of wildfires kicked up by strong winds across the island chain. Electricity was knocked out for nearly 20% of customers on the Big Island, according to poweroutage.us.

Residents prepare for the worst

Bobby Camara, a 75-year-old lifelong resident, said he planned to “hunker down, cross my fingers, hope the lights don’t go out” at a care home just outside Hilo. He said gas stations were busy as people sought fuel for chainsaws and vehicles.

“I think stocking up is part of life over here. ... You learn to be self-reliant,” Camara said.

Mike Caputo, who lives in Keaau, near the east coast of the Big Island, said the main concern is flash flooding and fallen trees, especially the albizia, a common tree on the island.

“They’re not very sturdy but they grow extremely large,” said Caputo, 50, a local fire captain. “They can make roads impassable. I made sure my trees were trimmed a few days ago.”

Casey Delaries makes a sandbag Friday in preparation for Lala’s approach in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

(Stephen Lam / San Francisco Chronicle)

Warnings posted everywhere

The Big Island was under a hurricane warning, and tropical storm warnings were issued for the islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Oahu, Kauai and Niihau.

A Category 3 hurricane hit the northeast corner of the Big Island in 1871, according to research of newspaper accounts by Steven Businger, a University of Hawaii atmospheric scientist. That hurricane destroyed thousands of homes, caused other widespread damage and killed six people, he said.

“We just can never know if a storm is going to turn,” he said.

The latest forecast has Lala striking “very close to the southern tip of the Big Island,” said Vanessa Almanza, a weather service meteorologist in Honolulu.

Shelters were opened, events were canceled and ranchers were urged to leave their cattle in pastures rather than inside structures that might collapse. “It doesn’t take landfall to create destruction,” Almanza said.

The hurricane center predicted 8 to 12 inches of rainfall across Maui and lower elevations of the Big Island, and 4 to 6 inches across the island chain.

Many Hawaii residents are still dealing with the aftermath of devastating flooding in March. Growers still recovering are worried about suffering more damage, according to Hawaii Farm Bureau Director Brian Miyamoto.

Wildfire risk

As winds ramped up across the islands, Almanza said dry and breezy conditions outside the storm would elevate fire concerns.

In 2023, the Maui town of Lahaina burned during extreme winds as a hurricane passed far to the south.

“Since the fire, everybody is way more aware of weather in general and our environment and things that are happening,” said Archie Kalepa of Lahaina, who is well known in the area for his surfing, paddling and other ocean skills and has been watching the storm closely.

Kauai, which is several islands northwest up the archipelago from the Big Island, saw Hurricane Iniki make landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in 1992. That, like this year, was an El Niño year, when a warming of the Pacific near the equator increases Pacific hurricane activity and affects weather patterns across the globe. Experts say a particularly strong, “super” El Niño is taking shape this year.

St. John and White write for the Associated Press. AP writer Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu contributed to this report.