Hurricane Lowell leaves Kauai after a rare direct pass at 90 mph

Hurricane Lowell moved north of the main Hawaiian Islands on Tuesday morning, 8 September, after a rare close pass of Kauai and Niihau. Advisory 50 from the Central Pacific Hurricane Center, issued at 5 a.m. HST and written with the National Hurricane Center in Miami, placed the centre at 23.7 north, 160.7 west, about 145 miles (230 kilometres) northwest of Lihue and 245 miles (390 kilometres) northwest of Honolulu. Maximum sustained winds were 90 mph (150 km/h). The storm was moving north near 18 mph.

A hurricane warning remained in force for Kauai County, including Kauai and Niihau, and for the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument from Nihoa to French Frigate Shoals. A tropical storm warning covered Oahu. Hurricane-force winds extended up to 70 miles from the centre. Tropical-storm-force winds reached 230 miles. Forecasters expected Lowell to become a tropical storm later on Tuesday and to turn northwest and west, then slow, on Wednesday and Thursday.

The storm had reached about 110 mph as it approached, just short of Category 3. It passed west of Niihau as a Category 2 system. Sustained winds of 65 to 85 mph were recorded on Niihau. Gusts above 80 mph hit the east side of Kauai. PowerOutage.us figures cited by U.S. outlets put more than 60,000 customers without power on Kauai and Oahu combined, with more than 90 percent of Kauai in the dark at the peak. Governor Josh Green had declared a state of emergency last Thursday.

Rain is the longer problem. Additional falls of 2 to 4 inches were expected on Kauai, 1 to 2 inches on Oahu and Maui County, and 3 to 6 inches on the Big Island, with higher totals on south and east slopes. Some reports put Kauai’s remaining rainfall at 4 to 8 inches and event totals as high as 24 inches in spots. The National Weather Service warned of flash flooding on already wet ground and of life-threatening surf and rip currents. A rare tornado watch covered parts of the state overnight.

Hawaii does not often take a direct hurricane. Most systems curve west of the chain or fall apart in cooler water. Lowell’s track brought the core close enough that Kauai spent a night under hurricane-force wind and a morning under flood alerts. The centre is now leaving. The reservoirs, the downed lines and the saturated hillsides are not. Restoration on an island that lost power to nine in ten customers will set the next news cycle, not the latitude of a weakening eye.