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 More than 1,200 people flocked to evacuation shelters across the
Big Island, according to County of Hawaii Civil Defense, as heavy
rains and strong winds pummeled areas of East Hawaii from the Puna
area to the town of Hilo.
Hawaii Electric Light Company had about 5,000 customers without
power, mostly in East Hawaii, a Hawaii County official said.
With its eye still about 50 miles (80 km) south of Hilo, on the Big
island, Iselle had weakened from a hurricane to a tropical storm,
packing maximum sustained winds near 70 miles per hour (110 kph),
with higher gusts, the U.S. Central Pacific Hurricane Center said in
a statement about an hour before midnight on Thursday.
The storm could still bring waves of up to 25 feet (8 meters) on
southeast-facing shores on the Big Island over the next few hours
before passing south of the state's smaller islands on Friday,
Central Pacific Hurricane Center meteorologist Tom Evans said.
"With a few hours before the center making landfall we can still see
that high surf on the southeast-facing shore of the Big Island,"
Evans said.
Farther east, Hurricane Julio had gained momentum and was expected
to pass just north of Hawaii by late Monday, Evans said.
That hurricane was upgraded late on Thursday to a Category 3 storm,
with maximum sustained winds increasing to near 120 mph (195 kph),
the National Hurricane Center said. It was moving west-northwest at
16 mph (26 kph) and was expected to weaken through Saturday.
In anticipation of the rare back-to-back storms, Hawaii residents
scrambled to stock up on supplies as state officials warned of the
potential for flash floods, mudslides and power outages in the
normally calm tourist haven.
Governor Neil Abercrombie signed an emergency proclamation freeing
up funds and resources and authorities advised residents to prepare
seven-day disaster supply kits and cautioned them against driving
except in an emergency.
"Everybody knows that a real rough time is coming," Abercrombie told
a news conference.
Hawaii's schools would be closed on Friday, but authorities planned
to keep airports open so planes could land in an emergency although
some airlines had canceled flights, officials said. Several shopping
malls on Oahu would also be closed.
Malia Baron, an Oahu resident visiting the Big Island, known for its
volcanoes, black-sand beaches and coffee farms, reported the weather
as blustery late on Thursday.
"Our power is out again. It's been on and off all evening and we
were lucky enough to finish cooking before one of the longer
outages," she said.
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ELECTION PLANS
Power was out at the Olinda Water Treatment plant in a rural area of
Maui, and officials told some 700 water customers to conserve water,
County of Maui spokesman Rod Antone said.
Emergency officials also told residents in the area of the Puna
Geothermal Venture plant in Pohoiki to stay indoors or evacuate to
safe zones after a spill of poisonous hydrogen sulfide. It was not
immediately clear how serious the spill was.
Preparations for a primary election scheduled for Saturday
continued, officials said, but added they would reassess how to
proceed on Friday after Iselle hits.
On the Big Island, a downpour soaked customers who dashed from cars
to the Sunshine True Value Hardware store in Kapaau only to discover
shelves already picked clean of batteries, flashlights, duct tape
and plywood. Sales clerk Caryl Lindamood tried to stay cheerful.
"Mother Nature sure does like to stir things up for us, doesn't
she?" she said, joking about both the storms and a small 4.5
magnitude earthquake that struck the Big Island 12 miles (19 km)
west of Waimea on Thursday morning.
Robert Trickey, 56, an interior decorator, said he was worried about
plate-glass windows that act as walls at his house near Pahoa on the
Big Island. Kailua-Kona resident Lisa Hummel, 44, said her family
was filling water containers and stocking up on batteries, candles
and flashlights, and planned to shelter in their basement when the
hurricane arrives.
"We'll probably make a pot of chili and ride it out," she said.
(Additional reporting by Ken Wills and Karin Stanton on the Kohala
coast of the Big Island, and Gunna Dickson in New York; Writing by
Alex Dobuzinskis and Eric M. Johnson; Editing by Sandra Maler, Ken
Wills and Sonya Hepinstall)
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