Power Restoration Underway After Tropical Storm Lala Batters Hawaii
Utility crews were working Tuesday to restore power to thousands of Hawaii residents after Tropical Storm Lala battered the archipelago over the weekend, leaving one person dead and causing extensive damage before weakening from hurricane strength.
The storm, which reached Category 1 intensity before skirting the Big Island, damaged or destroyed more than 100 homes on the island's southern portion, according to Governor Josh Green. Hawaiian Electric reported that approximately 200,000 customers statewide lost power during the storm, with the Big Island experiencing the most severe outages.
Extensive Damage and Recovery Efforts
Crews on the Big Island were working to clear and restore roads while most public schools across Hawaii reopened. However, Hawaii County's non-emergency operations remained suspended. Hawaiian Electric said inspections revealed significant damage, particularly in remote areas, with crews working overnight to restore service across the Big Island, Maui, and Oahu.
Many large trees in Maui's upcountry region toppled power lines and damaged infrastructure. Wind gusts reached 91 mph in Kohala on the Big Island as the storm passed to the south. Laupahoehoe on the island's northern coast recorded 43.54 inches of rainfall between August 14-16, with more than 31 inches falling in just 24 hours.
Some rural Big Island residents could remain without power for weeks or months, as transmission lines in remote areas may be particularly difficult to reach, according to Hawaiian Electric spokesman Jim Kelly.
Tourist Impact and Community Response
Tourists were among those affected by the outages. Sydney Ambrose, a California resident visiting Maui with her son and mother, described losing power at a restaurant in Kaanapali and sleeping without air conditioning in their hotel. Hotel guests gathered on the ground floor to charge devices at the few working outlets.
We were pretty anxious. My mom was a little bit freaked out.
In the hard-hit southern end of the Big Island, communities were isolated and cut off from communication. Floodwaters disturbed some grave sites. While water service was restored to customers in Pāhala, a boil water notice was issued out of an abundance of caution.
Storm's Path and Historical Context
The storm has since moved west and is expected to turn north toward the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, a massive federally protected area encompassing 582,578 square miles of the Pacific Ocean—one of the largest marine protected areas in the world and larger than all of America's national parks combined.
If Lala had made official landfall on the Big Island, it would have been the first hurricane landfall there since at least 1871, when a Category 3 hurricane hit the northeast corner of the island. The last hurricane to make direct landfall anywhere in Hawaii was Hurricane Iniki in 1992, which struck Kauai with sustained winds of 130 mph and caused over $2.3 billion in property damage.
Officials confirmed one death—a 90-year-old woman who had been reported missing in Naalehu and was found dead on Monday.
Roads are getting cleared, debris is getting cleaned up, and the people, while hurting, remain strong.
Governor Green said the damage was not as catastrophic as feared and that recovery will be "somewhat brisk."
