Tropical storm Lala lashes Hawaii after skirting the islands
Lala weakened after passing near Hawaii without landfall, but officials said it still brought damaging winds, heavy rain and widespread outages.
Tropical storm Lala swept past Hawaii on Sunday after earlier reaching hurricane strength, leaving at least one person dead and knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses. The storm did not make landfall, but it still hit the Big Island with strong gusts and heavy rain.
Governor Josh Green said a person died in a car crash in the South Point area of the Big Island, where more than 100 homes were destroyed. He also said at least 19 roofs were lost and several hospitals were running on generator power.
Forecasters expected close to a metre of rain on exposed windward slopes, raising the risk of swollen rivers and mudslides. PowerOutage.us said more than 200,000 customers across Hawaii’s three largest islands were without electricity on Sunday afternoon.
Lala had weakened from hurricane status as it moved away from the islands, but officials warned that dangerous weather would continue to affect parts of the state.
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