Tropical Storm Lala leaves over 111,000 without power and damages 100 homes in Hawaii

Storm passage and wind speeds

Tropical Storm Lala moved westward past Hawaii over the weekend after skirting south of the Big Island as a Category 1 hurricane. The storm center passed roughly 90 kilometres south of the island chain on Saturday, sparing residents direct eyewall impact while its right side battered southern and eastern coastal areas. Wind gusts reached 140 miles per hour at the Mauna Kea Summit and 78 miles per hour near sea level in Kona. In the early hours of Sunday at 02:00 local time, the National Hurricane Center downgraded Lala to a tropical storm with sustained wind speeds dropping to nearly 105 kilometres per hour. Weather forecasters stated that the system could regain hurricane status by Wednesday as it travels west across the Pacific Ocean.

Torrential rainfall and structural destruction

Outer bands of the storm delivered heavy precipitation across the Big Island, triggering flash floods and mudslides in several districts. Weather stations recorded over 43 inches of rain in Laupahoehoe on the Hamakua coastline, with most precipitation falling within a 24-hour window starting Saturday afternoon. Southern observation points near Nene Cabin logged about 35 inches of rain, while Hilo International Airport recorded more than 13 inches by Sunday night. Flooding and high winds damaged or swept approximately 100 homes off their foundations on the Big Island, and parts of a main highway collapsed, isolating the town of Pahala. State representative Jeanne Kapela described the conditions in the impacted communities.

“It's complete and utter devastation. Families have lost their homes; the entire community is impacted.”

Widespread electrical outages

Transmission line damage and toppled utility poles left hundreds of thousands of residents without electricity across multiple islands. Outages peaked on Sunday with approximately 250,900 customers disconnected before falling below 180,000 by Sunday evening. By Monday morning, utility provider Hawaiian Electric confirmed that 117,300 customers still lacked power, primarily across Honolulu, Hawaii, and Maui counties. Utility crews deployed helicopters and drones to survey remote mountainous areas, warning that some isolated communities could face service interruptions lasting months. Hawaiian Electric outlined the challenges faced by restoration teams.

“Tropical Storm Lala has left major damage to infrastructure in remote areas of Hawaii Island and Maui. Helicopter and drones are being deployed on Oahu and Maui today to assist with ongoing damage assessments to remote areas with rugged terrain.”

Honolulu County65,069

Hawaii County39,380

Maui County6,650

Kauai County294

Honolulu County

65069

Hawaii County

39380

Maui County

6650

Kauai County

294

Data from the article text

Emergency response and safety warnings

State authorities confirmed one fatality when a 45-year-old man died in a head-on traffic collision on the southern part of the Big Island during the storm on Saturday. Governor Josh Green estimated that total storm damages across the state would amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. Green noted that officials were continuing to investigate whether any other deaths were directly connected to the storm.

“We're praying that there are essentially no fatalities. The question is a difficult one to answer in some ways.”

Hawaii Emergency Management Director Randy Collins urged residents to exercise caution around downed power lines and heavy equipment during cleanup efforts.

“Many casualties often happen after the disaster. As people are cleaning things up, they're working with heavy equipment, chainsaws, generators. They're working around downed power lines and so forth. That's when the casualties come.”

On Oahu, the Honolulu Fire Department completed more than 600 storm-related responses by Sunday noon, including removing 147 fallen trees and rescuing one swimmer. State transportation officials announced that all airports across the islands reopened on Sunday as flights resumed normal operations.