More than 180,000 utility customers remained without electricity across Hawaii on Sunday afternoon after Hurricane Lala brushed the Big Island before being downgraded to a tropical storm.
According to data from poweroutage.us, roughly 183,123 customers were without power statewide as of 3:30 p.m. HST. On Oahu, the state’s most populous island, power restoration efforts made progress as outages dropped from over 220,000 down to around 130,000 by Sunday morning, state officials confirmed during a press conference.
In addition to widespread power disruptions, Hawaii Governor Josh Green reported Sunday that state officials have received reports of at least 100 homes suffering damage.
Flooding and Storm Conditions
Social media footage and eyewitness videos captured the storm's intensity, including a raging, surging river overflowing its banks on the Big Island as heavy rainfall battered the area.
As of 2:00 p.m. HST, Tropical Storm Lala was moving west toward southwest Kauai County at approximately 20 mph (31 km/h), carrying maximum sustained winds near 65 mph (104 km/h)—just shy of the 73 mph hurricane threshold—according to advisories from the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Outlook and Warnings
While tropical storm warnings for Maui and Oahu counties were discontinued earlier in the day on Sunday, a tropical storm warning remained active for Kauai County.
Projections from the NHC indicate that if Lala maintains its current speed and trajectory, the storm system is expected to fully clear the Hawaiian islands by 8:00 a.m. HST on Monday.
