Recommended
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued a hurricane warning for the westernmost Hawaiian islands of Kauai and Niihau as Category 3 Hurricane Lowell advances toward the U.S. Pacific archipelago.
The storm was expected to pass west of Niihau between Monday night and Tuesday morning, the center indicated in its latest bulletin released at 8:00 a.m. Hawaii time (18:00 GMT).
"Preparations to protect life and property must be rushed to completion," the NHC noted.
The center warned that the combination of storm surge and tide could flood normally dry areas near the coast on Kauai and Niihau. A flash flood watch was issued for Kauai on Monday.
A tropical storm warning was also issued for the island of Oahu, where Honolulu is located.
The storm was expected to dump between 6 and 10 inches of rain on Kauai, and between 4 and 8 inches for Oahu and the Big Island.
The storm was about 355 miles (570 km) southwest of Honolulu and was moving in a north-northeast direction, the center reported.
Lowell, which had maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 km/h), was expected to weaken gradually on Tuesday and then turn to the northwest early Wednesday after passing through the Hawaiian islands.
The storm briefly reached Category 5 status earlier this week but has since weakened to a Category 3.
Hawaii is still recovering from the impacts of Hurricane Lala, which grazed the southern part of the Big Island last month, causing destructive winds and flash flooding.
Lowell is one of two storms currently in the Pacific Ocean, where a historic El Niño event is warming the waters.
Tropical Storm Marie, about 680 miles (1,100 km) southwest of San Diego, was moving westward away from the coast.
El Niño occurs every two to seven years when trade winds, currents that blow from east to west and normally trap warm waters in the western Pacific, temporarily weaken. This causes those waters to rise to the surface and move eastward.
Climate change is amplifying the impacts of El Niño on the global climate.
[Publicidad]