Tropical Storm Lala Kills One and Destroys Over 100 Homes Across Hawaii's Big Island
Source: X | @KanekoaTheGreat
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Hurricane Lala, now downgraded to a tropical storm, has caused at least one death and significant structural damage across Hawaii's Big Island as it moves west. More than 100 homes are destroyed or damaged, approximately 60,000 customers remain without power, and search and rescue operations are active in several southern island communities.
ANALYSIS
At its peak, Lala carried maximum sustained winds of 75 mph as a Category 1 hurricane. It has since weakened to tropical storm status, and the National Hurricane Center reported the system was moving west of the Big Island as of August 16. Heavy rainfall and flooding continued across the southern part of the island through the day.
One person was killed in a storm-related car crash during the height of the storm on August 15, according to media reports. Hawaii County authorities said the death remains under investigation to confirm a direct storm connection. A search and rescue mission is active in the Alihu and Waiheno areas along the southern Big Island coast, where Hawaii County Mayor Kimo Alameda confirmed that several occupied homes may have been swept off their foundations during intense flash flooding. Two homes in Naalehu were entirely swept away by high water.
More than 100 homes on the southern Big Island were destroyed or damaged as of August 16, with at least 19 buildings reported to have lost their roofs. Approximately 60,000 customers remain without power. Higher elevations on the island received as much as 25 inches of rain during the storm's approach, with runoff concentrating in drainages across the lower southern slopes.
The Civil Beat reported that the Big Island was largely spared from the worst of a direct eyewall passage, but the southern coast bore the concentrated force of rainfall and storm surge. Emergency management personnel had staged resources in advance under the state emergency declaration issued before landfall, and federal resources were prepositioned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Whether the damage total will support a federal major disaster declaration request has not yet been announced.
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