Hawaii To Experience Hurricane Lane A Dangerous Category 4 Storm
David Ige, the Hawaiian Governor urged residents on Wednesday to prepare weeks' worth of supplies ahead of Hurricane Lane, a Category 4 cyclone that could make landfall in the islands in the coming days.
He said government offices would be closed Thursday and Friday as the storm, packing heavy rains, approaches the state.
"Just want to remind everyone to prepare to shelter in place 14 days of food and supplies and water," he said at a news conference.
Forecasters said the storm was moving to the west-northwest but was expected to make a harder turn toward the northwest and north-northwest over the next 24 hours.
How soon it turns and how sharp it turns will determine how close the center gets to the islands and how much damage it will cause.
"Exactly when this critical turn will happen is very difficult to forecast, so confidence in this portion of the track is unfortunately rather low," The Pacific Hurricane Center said.
At 8 p.m. ET the storm was located about 275 miles south of Kailua-Kona, or 400 miles SSE of Honolulu.
People have been flocking to stores for supplies.
The Governor said officials were expecting some roads to flood and residents should refrain from driving.
"We just need to urge people to use common sense," he said.
The storm was in the Pacific about 285 miles south of the Big Island town of Kailua-Kona early Wednesday, with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph. Tropical-storm-force winds persist up to 140 miles from the center.
Lane is expected to weaken slowly through Friday, but it still is forecast "to remain a dangerous hurricane as it draws closer to the Hawaiian Islands," sources said.
What might happen
Tropical-storm-force winds -- 39-73 mph -- and rain could arrive at the Big Island and Maui County late Wednesday and early Thursday, and at the other islands Thursday or Friday.
Hurricane winds (74 mph and higher) could hit the Big Island and Maui County on Thursday.
Hurricanes rarely make landfall in Hawaii, as the Central Pacific does not see as many storms as the Atlantic or Eastern Pacific, and the Hawaiian Islands present a small target in the vast Pacific Ocean.
Only two hurricanes and two tropical storms have made landfall in Hawaii since 1959:
• Hurricane Dot, in 1959
• Hurricane Iniki, in 1992
• Tropical Storm Iselle, in 2014
• Tropical Storm Darby, in 2016
Even close calls are somewhat rare, with Hawaii getting a named storm within 60 miles of its coastline about once every four years on average.
Lane represented another kind of rarity: It was a Category 5 storm late Tuesday before weakening Wednesday morning.
As such, this was only the second time in recorded history that a Category 5 hurricane came within 350 miles of the state -- the first one being Hurricane John in 1994 -- the National Weather Service said.
Hawaii has been experiencing a volcanic eruption for much of the summer. Mount Kilauea began producing lava flows in early May and portions of the southeastern coastline of the Big Island have been transformed by the lava flows that covered over 13 square miles (35 square kilometers).
Fortunately, the eruptive activity of Kilauea has "paused," with no new lava flows since August 9, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
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