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Tropical Storm Lala left a mud bath behind on Monday, caused by heavy rains and flooding as it passed by the main Hawaiian islands.
Lala weakened from a hurricane to a tropical storm on Sunday after lashing the state without making landfall. The storm is expected to continue moving west and will likely regain hurricane strength offshore, far from land, by Wednesday.
There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect for Hawaii on Monday as cleanup efforts began, but life-threatening surf and rip current conditions persisted, according to the National Hurricane Center. The saturation caused by the heavy rains could still trigger some landslides, but the winds no longer posed a threat, stated National Weather Service meteorologist Patrick Blood.
“There are no real imminent dangers that we are facing right now,” he stated. “Lala has moved off to the west.”
Laupahoehoe, on the northeast coast of the Big Island, recorded the highest rainfall total at 1.1 meters (43 inches). The strongest winds were recorded at the summit of the towering Mauna Kea volcano, where gusts reached 225 km/h (140 mph). At lower elevations, residents across the island chain experienced tropical-storm-force winds of 48 to 64 km/h (30 to 40 mph), with gusts of up to 97 km/h (60 mph), Blood noted.
The storm downed trees and power lines and caused severe flooding that tore about 100 homes from their foundations on the Big Island, authorities reported. Governor Josh Green stated on Sunday that it appears no one died when the houses were swept away by the water.
[Publicidad]