Hawaiians prepare as hurricane draws closer

Associated Press

HONOLULU

Barely holding on to hurricane strength, Iselle’s outer edges brought rain and wind to Hawaii on Thursday as it approached landfall, poised to become the first hurricane or tropical storm to hit the island chain in 22 years and whose path another hurricane closely followed.

Hurricane Iselle was expected to pass overnight across the Big Island, one of the least-populated islands that is known for coffee fields, volcanoes and black sand beaches, then send rain and high winds to the rest of the state today. The storm’s predicted track had it skirting just south of the other islands.

Forecasters were analyzing storm data before making possible changes to its categorization, National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Lau said.

“But we’re not really too concerned about the track or the intensity of the system,” Lau said. “We’re primarily urging residents to still take proper precautions to prepare themselves to keep everyone safe.”

Hundreds of people flowed into emergency shelters set up at high schools on the Big Island, and Mayor Billy Kenoi told KHON-TV that no major injuries or damage from the first bits of wind and rain have been reported.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Julio, a Category 2 storm, followed Iselle’s path with sustained maximum winds of 105 mph. It was about 1,000 miles behind Iselle and projected to head just north of the islands sometime early Sunday.

Hawaii has been directly hit by hurricanes only three times since 1950. The last time it was hit with a hurricane or tropical storm was in 1992, when Hurricane Iniki killed six people and destroyed more than 1,400 homes in Kauai, Lau said.