Hawaii’s Big Island Prepares as Lala Strengthens to Hurricane Ahead of Possible Landfall

Tropical Storm Lala has strengthened into a hurricane and could be the first to make landfall over the Hawaiian islands in 155 years.

Lala threatened to strike Hawaii’s Big Island on Saturday, as high winds and driving rain pounded the island. According to the 3 p.m. update, the eye of the storm was just 34 miles south of South Point.

Big Island is the southernmost and easternmost of the chain’s eight main islands. It is also the largest and most populous island, with more than 210,000 residents.

The southeast to northwest trajectory forecast for the eye of Hurricane Lala is tracking just south of other populated Hawaiian islands as well.

As of Saturday a little after 2 p.m. local time, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the storm “continues northwestward as it interacts with the Big Island terrain.”

Lala is forecast to arrive at Big Island as a hurricane, with sustained wind speeds of over 74 mph. The most recent forecasts for all other major Hawaiian islands predict Lala will weaken slightly as it arrives near other islands along the island chain as a tropical storm.

The NHC forecasted that “damaging winds will persist across portions of the Big Island into tonight and spread westward across similar islands through Sunday.”

The whole weather pattern is swirling forward at the rate of about eight miles an hour. A near miss of the Big Island, would still cause a significant amount of damage.

Lala’s maximum sustained winds have been measured at 75 mph, making it a Category 1 hurricane, according to the NHC.

Vanessa Almanza, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Honolulu, is forecasting that Lala will strike “very close to the southern tip of the Big Island” at South Point, which is sparsely populated.

Lala’s proximity to the Big Island has already done damage. Locals are sheltering and preparing for worse.

About one-third of residents on the island have had their power knocked out, according to poweroutage.com.

Forecasts are predicting up to 25 inches of rain on parts of the island.

Mike Caputo, 50, is a fire captain who lives near Big Island’s east coast. He worries about the fallen trees that flash flooding could bring, especially the popular albizia tree.

“They’re not very sturdy but they grow extremely large” and can “make roads impassable,” he said.

Caputo said that he has a generator and plenty of fresh water and plans to hunker down until the storm is well past.

Hawaiian Gov. Josh Green has urged people to stay home.

“Do not go out if it is unsafe,” he said in a press conference Friday.

“This is an enormous storm.”

Lala’s maximum winds were at 65 mph at the time, Green noted, but “it is strengthening.”

Green relayed meteorologists’ predictions of heavy rains that could bring flash floods. He warned of potential car accidents and fatalities for Big Island residents if they drive under such dangerous conditions.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.