Hurricane Hone passed just south of Hawaii on Sunday, dumping enough rain for the National Weather Service to call off its red flag warnings that strong winds could lead to wildfires on the drier sides of islands in the archipelago.
Hone (pronounced hoe-NEH) had top winds of 85mph (140kph) on Sunday morning as it moved westward, centred about 45 miles (72km) off the southernmost point of the Big Island, according to Jon Jelsema, a senior forecaster at the Central Pacific Hurricane Centre in Honolulu. He said tropical storm-force winds were blowing across the island’s southeast-facing slopes, carrying up to a foot (30cm) or more of rain.
“As the rain gets pushed up the mountain terrain it wrings it out, kind of like wringing out a wet towel,” Jelsema said on Sunday. “It’s been really soaking those areas, there’s been flooding of roads. Roads have been cut off by high floodwaters there in the windward sections of the big island, and really that’s the only portion of the state that’s had much flooding concern at this point.”
Hurricane Gilma, meanwhile, increased to a Category 4 hurricane on Saturday night, but it was still far east of Hawaii and forecast to weaken into a depression before it reaches the islands.
Some Big Island beach parks were closed because of dangerously high surf and officials opened shelters as a precaution, Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth said.
Hone, whose name is Hawaiian for “sweet and soft”, poked at memories still fresh of last year’s deadly fires on Maui, which were fuelled by hurricane-force winds. Red flag alerts are issued when warm temperatures, very low humidity and stronger winds combine to raise fire dangers. Most of the archipelago is already abnormally dry or in drought, according to the US Drought Monitor.
“They gotta take this thing serious,” said Calvin Endo, a Waianae Coast neighbourhood board member who lives in Makaha, a leeward Oahu neighbourhood prone to wildfires.
The August 8, 2023 blaze that torched the historic town of Lahaina was the deadliest US wildfire in more than a century, with 102 dead. Dry, overgrown grasses and drought helped spread the fire.
For years, Endo has worried about dry brush on private property behind his home. He has taken matters into his own hands by clearing the brush himself, but he is concerned about nearby homes abutting overgrown vegetation.
“All you need is fire and wind and we’ll have another Lahaina,” Endo said on Saturday. “I notice the wind started to kick up already.”
The cause of the Lahaina fire is still under investigation, but it is possible it was ignited by bare electrical wire and leaning power poles toppled by the strong winds. The state’s two power companies, Hawaiian Electric and the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, were prepared to turn off power if necessary to reduce the chance that live, damaged power lines could start fires, but they later said the safety measures would not be necessary as Hone blew past the islands.
Roth said a small fire that started on Friday night in Waikoloa, on the dry side of the Big Island, was brought under control without injuries or damage.
