Sunrise 5 a.m. (August 15, 2026)

Aloha Warrior fans, the news is out. UH games are coming home to K5. All the games, UH shows, athlete profiles, and throwbacks to your favorites are all in one place. Hawaii News Now. Celebrate the home team with us, and let's go Bose. From Hawaii News Now, this is breaking news. Sunrise here this morning to keep you and your family safe as we track what is still tropical storm Lala is expected to become a hurricane soon. Hawaii Island is already feeling the impact of the strong wind. This is a very serious storm. We have not had a hurricane make landfall in quite some time, so none of us really have experienced this in the last couple decades. So we'll see if it does become a hurricane, but this is expected to be a statewide weather event with impacts all the way up the island chain. We have crews all over the state, and Guy is tracking its movement throughout the morning. So how does this affect you? We're going to look at what is now closed, where you can go for emergency shelter if you choose to evacuate, and what events have been canceled so far. Stay with us throughout the morning right here on sunrise. All right, so let's take a live look. I believe we have the helo cam up as, of course, we continue to monitor things over on Hawaii Island. Can't tell them much, but there is a lot of rain that has been dumping over there in the last few hours. So thank you for trusting us to help you get through this. starting this week. This starts a full day of live coverage right here on Hawaii News now. We're going to be on KGMB, K-China and K-5 throughout the day. If you see other programming and you want the latest, we're going to be on one of those stations. You can also load up the H&N streaming app, so let's get straight to Guy Hagi for the latest on the storm. Well, this has been a very slow developing storm, and it started when we're looking at it, didn't become a cyclone very quickly, and it hasn't become a hurricane very quickly, although it's right on the verge of being a hurricane. Right now, the winds are running at 65 miles an hour at the strongest of the storm. There are some strong gusts already buffeting the big island. That's as the storm moves closer. We're expecting stronger and stronger winds and more and more rain to come for Hawaii Island and for the rest of the state as the storm progresses off to the west. Right now, you can see those outer bands hitting Hawaii Island. Now, the thing about this storm is it's getting bigger. It's expanding. And as such, at the latest update, the tropical storm force... We're talking winds stronger than 40 miles an hour, extend that 220 miles out from the center of the storm. So as the center of the storm moves, there's going to be this wide field of very strong winds. Now, the hurricane center is still expecting it to strengthen and become a hurricane as early as 8 a.m. this morning with winds of 75 miles an hour, become a Category 1 hurricane. Now, the eye of the storm could make landfall or could stay just offshore or could even inland.

This is that cone of uncertainty. The margin for error is not very big. So it's expected to run over Hawaii Island and then stay to the south of the rest of the state, although big enough that the tropical storm force winds will be well to the north of us. So we'll be in the envelope of those strongest winds, even though the winds aren't that strong just yet. Let's go island by island to see who's getting the rain right now. Lots of rain up and down the Hamakua coast, and it's been that way for the last like 12 hours. Not much for Kona, but you can see there's some rain out towards Waikoloa. Heavy rainfall over on the windward side of Maui along the Hana Highway, still very dry on the leeward side, and they got some rain over on Molokai and Lanai as well. We've had some scattered showers, most of them on the light side, but it's the wettest morning we've seen in the last couple of days, and you can see Kauai cut out of reach of the storm. Now, take a look at the rainfall totals, and it's kind of amazing, and the storm really hasn't hit Hawaii Island just yet, but the outer bands have already dropped a lot of rain on Hawaii Island. Down Laopo Hoy Hoy, that's down the Hamakua Coast, eight inches of rain, and in that same area, the Kauai Nui Stream got about 10 and a half inches of rain, and you still see decent amounts of rain for Maui County and not much for Kauai or Oahu. And the winds, they're already picking up speed. And they're quite gusty for some areas, and we're talking statewide already over on Hawaii Island. Doesn't look that impressive, right? But keep this in mind. elevations, they're really getting some strong winds. Brace yourself. Up in Monacoia, they've had winds of 107 miles an hour, and that's over the last, say, 12 hours. So here are the things you've got to know. Hurricane warning on for Hawaii Island. That means they could get winds upwards of 75 miles an hour through the day today. Tropical storm warning. That means wind stronger than 40 miles an hour for the rest of the state. And remember, there's also a flood watch that's on. That means flooding is possible. And we're talking statewide. We haven't had flooding yet. Well, as that system moves up the island chain, we could see flooding. And also, we're talking about some very large surf. There is a high surf warning on for all east shores across state. So, folks, we're just getting started. You still have time to prepare if you are in Maui or if you're on Koi. But if you're on... Hawaii Island, you should be hunkering down and waiting for the worst to come. Now let's see what's happening with traffic. Good morning, Ahmed al-Sharaa. Hey, good morning, guy. Here's a look at Hawaii Island where we already have reports of fallen trees and road closures. The first is along Kohala Mountain Road. This is between or at mile post 12 to 13. According to the state, there is a fallen tree and power lines that have shut down Kohala Mountain Road. So Kauai High Road remains open for access between North Kahala and Waimea. Speaking of Waimea, we've also got a first alert traffic incident there. That one is... of a crash and a fallen tree. This one is on Route 19 near mile post 53. Again, this is on why Mayaside and drivers are urged to proceed with caution. Now, that's your first alert traffic on sunrise. Steve Grace, back to you. Yeah, just a reminder, we're going to be here throughout the morning and throughout the day to make sure that you're safe. Now, we want to take you county by county to show you just how our community prep for this storm. And, of course, begins with Hawaii Island, which as guide just mentioned, is now feeling some of the storm.

first impacts. Yesterday, Poet residents flocked to gas stations, filling multiple cans of gas in preparation for the storm. They were listening to calls to hunker down, buy new supplies, and tie their belongings down. Community members say they remember how tropical storm isel toppled thousands of albesia trees. It doesn't take much wind. You know, these albesias are really soft and they're brittle. The branches just fall and then, you know. cause all kind of havoc. The Hoa families have also prepared flashlights and lanterns after losing electricity for days during the March Kona Lowe's. Hawaiian and Alaska Airlines have suspended all Hilo flights and all Kona flights will be suspended starting today at 2 p.m. In all, those carriers canceled five neighbor island flights yesterday and today they're canceling 54 neighbor island flights and 11 trans-Pacific flights. Customers will be offered waivers. We found travelers scrambling to get out of Hilo yesterday. On Maui, winds were whipping yesterday as the trades intensified ahead of Lala. Yeah, on Maui, winds were whipping yesterday as the trades intensified ahead of Lala. In South Kihei, businesses were boarding up their windows and laying sandbags at their entrances and vehicles lined up for hours at gas stations. Right now, we are ready throughout the county, Maui Molokai Lanai. We have our personnel ready for working overtime, people, you know, standby crews. testing all of our generators, and just making for making sure before there any storm comes that we're ready. So we're preparing right now. And over in Lahaina, Honu Oceanside Restaurant on Front Street set up flood barriers to protect employees and customers. Five temporary evacuation points will be open this weekend on Maui to help the public. Baldwin High in Wailuku, the Hana High and Elementary Cafeteria, and the Lahaina Civic Center gym all open now. Sites at Mayor Hannibal Tavares Community Center in Pukalani and South Maui Community Park in Kihei will open this morning not long from now at 6 a.m. Meantime, sites at the Molokai Baptist Church and Lanai Youth Center are available on call. So use the numbers that you see right now on your screen if you need assistance. If you're wondering about Oahu... We're going to start seeing impacts from Lala later in the day today. So the city is suspending overnight camping in the meantime, as well as permitted park activities. That's going to begin at 6 p.m. today. City parks and gardens will remain open, but staff will reassess the situation on Sunday. Honolulu's mayor urging families who suffer through the Kona Lo's storms just to be extra careful this time. Look, now is it time to prepare before conditions get worse. We don't want to wait for things to deteriorate and have people overreact. And I would hope that everything that we went through several months ago with the Colonel Lowe's has been a reality check for all of us.

The city is activating a non-emergency call center starting at 7 a.m. this morning. So in a couple of hours from now, you can use this phone number if you need more information related to the storm. The number is currently on your screen. Now, first responders on a while who are adjusting schedules and staffing this weekend. Ocean safety extended lifeguard hours and added jet skis. But if conditions deteriorate, they're going to close the towers. Now, all week long, there are outreach teams who have been urging homeless in the meantime to try to... lead the stream banks and beaches and seek shelter. We're up against the clock. Time is running out and it's up to us to get out here to ensure that our most vulnerable populations know that there is a storm coming. If the winds hit about 45 miles per hour sustained for safety reasons, you might see the towers get shuttered or the flaps being closed. That does not mean that the lifeguards are off duty. It's an employee safety issue. The city says emergency operations centers will remain open all weekend to coordinate the response on Oahu. Well, Kauai will be the last to feel, Lala. Residents are being urged to take action now. Officials are asking that water use be limited to essential uses, especially in Princeville, Kalihivai Bay Estates, and Anini Road. Meantime. KIUC says that its crews and contractors will be on standby to restore power, but only when conditions are safe, so families should prepare for extended outages. Meanwhile, Governor Green, and all four mayors say that they have done all that they can to prepare, but residents, we need to do our part. Yeah, Ben Guterres reports on this. This is a very serious storm. We have not had a hurricane make landfall in quite some time, so none of us really have experienced this in... you know, the last couple decades. The last hurricane to make landfall in Hawaii was Iniki on Kauaip in 1992. The last known hurricane to hit Hawaii Island was in 1871, according to newspapers at the time. But Lala comes just five months after most of the state got walloped by a pair of Kona Lowe's. What I would say is we learn from the extreme weather that we experienced in the spring, and we went to go and adjust those streams specifically that were given us the most problems. State and county crews have been busy clearing waterways all week, and the state has been keeping a much closer watch on water levels than reservoirs and streams after the Wahiawa Dam emergency in March. We now monitor those a lot closely. In fact, we monitor some of the major ones such as the Nuituanos Reservoir and the Wahiawai Reservoir on an hourly basis, even when we don't have the storm approaching. Forecasters also want residents to remember tropical storm, a cell, which made landfall along the Kotlu coast in 2014, causing severe wind damage. The National Weather Service says the wind field from Lala is much larger than a cells. Even though the track shows it passing south of the islands, the tropical storm forest winds, which can be damaging, are...

will extend north and could impact all the islands. The governor says the state's major disaster fund has $100 million available for a quick response to Lala. Government agencies are also working together more closely. FEMA and the White House have been in touch with us. They're fully aware of what we're dealing with and we'll give them an update in the wee hours of the morning too about how much damage we expect. The big message now is for people to hunker down, especially on the island of Hawaii. That, you know, residents use common sense. I mean, we don't want your, you know, your ex-Kaluka activity become our rescue mission. General Logan says 180 Hawaii National Guard personnel have already been activated and positioned statewide to support possible rescue operations. And other National Guard units from around the country have already pledged support if it becomes necessary. Ben Guterres, Hawaii News now. All right, thank you very much, Ben. 513. Good morning. I'm Billy V. How's it, Guy Hagi? So we're just at the start of what's going to be a severe weather event that's going to last a few days. And what you can do is you can go ahead and follow along. You can get the Hawaii News Now Weather App. So you can actually look, and I'm going to be following it along too this morning. I've got the radar up. I've got the path. You can go ahead and see all of this and much, much more on that Hawaii News Now Weather app. Once again, the QR Code right here. Turn on your phone, turn on the camera, and you go ahead and download it right now. It's very useful because you know where the trouble areas are by looking at the radar. You can see where the rain is, where the rain's heading, and you can make your plans. But safe to say that if you're on Hawaii Island, you should limit your travel at all costs because it's going to be dangerous to some extent. There might be flooding on the roads with those strong winds, high-profile vehicles. We know Kona has a lot of them. They could be dangerous as well. Let's talk about hurricanes for a couple of moments. How have we had one hit Hawaii Island before? Long ago before we had recorded history in terms of weather data, right? But we know from old Hawaiian language newspapers, right, that one was recorded to hit sometime like 1850s or something. But then again, that's eyewitness accounts, not really recorded on any weather instruments or anything like that. So other than that, no. The answer is no. And that was one of the concerns that the National Weather Service has always had with Hawaii Island. response because they haven't had hit by a hurricane in any time recent memory, people were kind of lax about getting prepared for a hurricane or a system like this. I know we're going to take a look at rainfall amounts in a moment, but how early are we in the hurricane season? So hurricane season officially starts June 1st, right? And officially ends November 30th. But the problem, thou, this season, is with the El Nino, the warmer sea surface. temperatures near the equator especially, right? Because of that, that's more storm activity expected for us in the central and east Pacific. We've already seen a lot of activity in those areas. And because of that, we're expecting maybe the season to extend beyond November 30th. So that's not a good thing. Okay. We know that you've got set up with some things that you wanted to show everybody right now. Okay, so these are the projected rainfall totals, right? Not exactly what we're exactly going to get, but these are the projection. And that's just what we've got to rely on, right? And obviously, Hawaii Island is going to get most of the rainfall. We're talking upwards of 25 inches, especially down towards the Pahala area, Na'alehu. But one of the good things is that it's not hitting a very populated area.

it's going to present a lot of problems, a lot of challenges, a lot of danger for the people that live down there. And you're from the big island. You know that, you know, there are some challenges with regard to transportation already, and then you got the severe weather on top of that. So, you know, along the Hamakua coastline, you're going to see that in some places, beautiful waterfalls that are usually falling down, falling from the mountains when that water is coming. out towards the ocean. So I'm going to pick this up for a moment. Anyway, so what happens is that some of these roads could be closed if they have avalanches, if they have overflow of water. So Ahmed al-Sharaa's going to have her hounds full as we go throughout the day today. Those are just some of the areas to watch. Hilo, Keokaha. I know that Jonathan Masaki's there, and he's going to talk probably more about that a little bit later on. As you go down towards Pahua side, Mahe is going to be there, but that's got a chance. to where some of those roads could be closed it has before. Yep, and then the thing about people that, think about that area, if you haven't been there before, it's a real mix of terrain, right? You get lava field. And then you get this super dense rainforest because they get a lot of rain over there. They can handle a lot of rain. We can't handle because there's such developed areas where there's lots of concrete, lots of rainfall would build up. We couldn't even handle a fraction of what they are expected to get here in, say, a metropolitan area. But then when we go back to the numbers again, right, still going to see a lot of rainfall for East Maui, especially 8 to 12 inches. enough to cause flooding along the Hana Highway and then we also know that it could be bad out towards called pole those roads could close that one little road that goes from Hana back towards the Kihei area right that that stretch you know there's gulches that come down that they could flood out that road too and not only that but also even on the west side I was talking with Chelsea Davis yesterday you know you have that key hay area yeah where you just it just comes down from up country down the hill, it's got to go from the mountain to the ocean, it's got to go somewhere. And a lot of that kind of messes things up in Kihei historically. And that could happen again, right? So the people in Kihei or any area that is flooded before with an event like this. Use precaution and plan on flooding. Again, what would you do beforehand if you knew flooding was going to occur? That's the things that you've got to take action on, right? And here on Oahu, it's not going to be any picnic. Granted, it's a little damp right now, but as the storm progresses and moves closer, we're talking for Oahu tonight through tomorrow, we could see upwards of six inches of rain, and that's more than enough to cause flooding for us here on Oahu. And then over in Koi, because they're expecting to get lingering effects from the storm, maybe through Monday. they could get up to eight inches of rain. And again, they've had severe flooding in Honolay in those areas, and it could happen again with rainfall totals anywhere from 4 to 8 inches. And we could see some downpours. There's even a possibility of tornadoes to form over on Hawaii Island because of that system. And that's just one of the byproducts that happens when a hurricane moves through. So we've talked about rainfall for a bit. Coming up in a little bit, we'll talk more about the winds and how that's going to affect things. Power is going to be one of those.

Yeah, that's right. Now, Oahu first responders are increasing staffing this weekend, and they're adjusting their schedules. Lynn Kowano shows us how city crews are trying to keep people safe. Even though the weather is beautiful on Oahu Friday, the city says they're getting shelters and staffing issues worked out ahead of the storm. This is the calm before the storm in terms of weather, but this is the really the period in which we're really ramping up our operations. Honolulu officials are getting ready for Lala. Shelters are set to open Saturday morning. We make sure those facilities are ready, and then we also account for the staffing of those facilities and then any needs for emergency feeding and supplies. We don't want anybody to panic, but we want people to be prepared. Part of our reason for opening up the shelters ahead of time. We've been very involved this week. with our homeless population. A couple thousand people around this island in different places. All week, Core, the crisis outreach team, has been warning the homeless that it could be a rough weekend. We're up against the clock. Time is running out and it's up to us to get out here to ensure that our most vulnerable populations know that there is a storm coming. Some have agreed to spend the weekend in shelters. Others said they'll visit family, but there are some who want to write it out. If they're not going to listen, there are other ways that we can get them to move out of certain areas. If they're in danger. On Oahu shores, ocean safety is adjusting hours to provide additional coverage. We are staffing extra lifeguards in towers. We are staffing extra lifeguards on jeskeys. We are going to strategically locate extra jeskeys along the southern and eastern shores to respond to any emergencies that we see from the quickly rising surf. Not just high surf, strong winds are also dangerous to the public and lifeguards. If the winds are consistently 45 miles an hour or more, towers may have to shut down. That does not mean that the lifeguards are off duty. It's an employee safety issue. We are pulling the lifeguards out of the towers, and that's where we will rely more on a mobile response to 911 calls and be patrolling the beaches in our trucks and via Jeskies. All the emergency operations centers on Oahu will be staffed throughout the weekend to manage and coordinate response. I'm Lynn Kewano, Hawaii News now. Thanks, Lynn. UH soccer match against Kansas State. That's been moved up a day. The Rainbow Wahina will now play today instead of tomorrow afternoon when the storm is expected to drench Oahu. Safety, of course, top of mind for the student athletes. Number one thing all the time is safety and the student athlete well-being. So we want to do our part to be responsible and moving the game up to Saturday is absolutely the right thing to do.

Well said, Coach Bud, the Bose faced Kansas State 1230 p.m. in Manoa. Now our pregame show begins at noon, and you can watch on K5 or on Hawaii News Now.com. All right, 522. Coming out, we're going to get a live report from Hilo. Yeah, Hawaii Island, as Guy and Billy have mentioned, it's already feeling the impact. Our Jonathan Misaki is there. He's going to join us live coming up next. How's it guy? Steve, tropical storm Lala remains a tropical storm. That eye is getting more and more defined. It's in warm water and it could become a hurricane as early as 8 a.m. this morning. 8 a.m. is the next update. So that's when we'll officially know if it has become a hurricane or not. Until then, look at all the rain bands heading towards the south and east side. Look at a very, very, very wet out towards Honokkah and back towards Wipio and even in Kauai High. And they already have some. very strong winds. So the worst is yet to come. If you're on Hawaii Island, hunker down and try to avoid any travel today. It should be clearing up by sometime tomorrow. But until then, you know, like I said, the worst is yet to come. We'll be right back with more sunrise. Don't go away.

Aloha Warrior fans, the news is out. UH games are coming home to K5. All the games, UH shows, athlete profiles, and throwbacks to your favorites are all in one place. Hawaii News Now. Celebrate the home team with us and let's go Bose. Tropical storm Lala expected to bring different, slightly different conditions depending upon where you are. If you're on Hawaii Island, you're under hurricane warning. Hawaii Island expected to see the worst of the storm and the strongest, because the storm will pass very close, if not over them. Take a look at the timeline. This is this morning, right? And notice how the rain is expected to build up as the day progresses. There you go. And you can see where the heaviest rain is expected to be, anywhere from Hilo all the way down towards Hawaii Ocean. view down towards Pahala and Na'aleu. They could get upwards of 20, 25 inches of rain that's that area in black. So that's the most significant rainfall of anywhere in the state. That's where Lala is expected to bring the most rain and less rain up and down the Kohala coast, but they could still get, you know, four to six inches and that could cause some flooding. So the biggest effects are going to come today and early tomorrow, and that's for Hawaii Island. They could get wind gusts hurricane winds upwards of 85 miles an hour. Power outages are, you know, likely if those winds come ashore sooner than later. And then same thing. Look at the timeline. This is this afternoon at 1 o'clock. The rain's going to build up along the Hana highway and over into the Kaupo area for the east end of Maui. Even the south side, the west side, expected to get a little bit of rain, one to two inches out in Lahaina, and then looks like central Maui, which is the area that's suffering from drought as well as west Molokai, suffering from various... abnormally dry conditions. They're expected to get some significant rainfall as well. But again, the most rain is going to come in that Kaupo area, and that's in the next 24 hours. So for them, the rainfall is going to start building up. Already is building up today through tomorrow. Tropical storm warning, they could get gusts upwards of 60 miles an hour. And while we're under a tropical storm warning as well, we're not expecting as much rain as Maui or over on Hawaii Island. And these are the areas expected to see. lot and basically it's the windward areas the areas along the koalau basically windward and mocha leeward side's not so much and we could get winds upwards of 50 miles an hour and for us the time with the most risk for us on a while is tonight through tomorrow right tomorrow the all day tomorrow we could see the rainfall build up and the winds pick up a little bit later for kawa they'll get the results they'll get the consequences last but they could still see upwards of inches up in the White Ali Ali, and that could lead to some flooding and water issues building up over in Honolet. So it's a good time to check your storm drains, make sure you get your hurricane kit ready, and have a gold bag ready, and make sure you have a plan and know where the evacuation centers are in your neighborhood. Jelani, over to you. Guy, right now.

Now, here is a look at our flow map of Oahu. Yes, cars are flowing freely with no problems, so we do have a first alert traffic incident out of Kalihi. This one is on the H1 Eastbound, where multiple planes are shut down due to a multi-vehicle crash, and it is near the Lique, Lique off ramp. Now, over on Hawaii Island, we do have some road closures. This one is over in the Waikolo or Waikiki area. There are reports of fallen trees. and down to power lines. The first one is along Kohala Mountain Road at mile post 12 to 13. This one is closed due to fallen tree and power lines. So Kauai High Road remains open for access between North Kuala and Waimea. And then we've also got a report of a multi-vehicle crash and fallen tree on Route 19 near mile post 53. This is near or in the Waimea area. That's your first alert traffic on sunrise. Steve Grace, back to you. All right. Thanks, Ahmed al-Sharaa. As guy was just telling us, Lala is now closing in on Hawaii Island. Yeah, rain and some gusty winds have already rolled in, and Jonathan Masaki is braving the elements out in Hilo this morning. He joined us now live. How's it going, Jonathan? Well, you folks have the nail on the head. We can feel the elements certainly starting to impact the shores here. We're standing in front of the Hawaii Nani Loa Hotel, which is obviously located in the Hilo Bayfront. Now, overnight, we were seeing that conditions started to get a little bit worse. Last night, it wasn't all that bad, but today I can feel the winds. You can not really see right now. The water is really churning in Hilo Bay. Obviously, Havai County officials are very concerned about the unhoused. So I want to show you some video from last night. We were able to get to the downtown. Hilo area as they really moved a important shelter from the Salvation Army from the Bayfront and getting it into an inland area known as Wynakou. So the county did designate that community center in Wynakou as an alternative location for the salvation to operate their shelter. It was pretty full. About 30 people were there last night and they were expected to get a little bit more clientele in throughout the morning and throughout the evening and throughout the weekend. We talked to one Salvation Army officer who had this to say about their operations. You know, we always hope for the best and expect the worst. And we're expecting a pretty significant event with this weather system, so we want to make sure that we're doing everything we possibly can to support our community. This is just part of it. We're prepared to feed communities through the county shelter system, post-event, and anything else that's needed through emergency disaster services. Except the sheltering option. Come in, get out of the rain, get out of the wind, be safe.

And speaking of that, there are very much a lot of shelters that are open in place. I know we have that on our website as to where you can go if you need to seek emergency shelter. Now, as you bring you back live here to the Hilo Bayfront, you can see the rain in front of me coming down. So again, as we compare it to overnight, this is now a really big development as to what's coming in. The rain is picking up. The wind certainly can be felt. And a little bit later, we'll show you what the ocean conditions are right here at the Hill of Bayfront because as Guy and Billy have been telling you, it is really... starting to get pretty intense here on Hawaii Island. Live from the Hilo Bayfront, I'm Jonathan Masaki. Back to you, Stephen Grace. All right, thank you, Jonathan. Stay safe, buddy. So that's Hilo. We're going to move a little further south as we continue our team coverage this morning with our Mahalani Richardson in Pajor. Yeah, residents in the area are especially worried about blocked roads and blackouts. Here in Pahoa, the rain has been light so far, off and on throughout the day. But I'm overlooking the Pahoa Community Center. County officials say they don't expect a large number of people to come here, but those who do have no place else to go. We checked out a gas station in Pahua where people were filling up multiple cans of gas. They were starting to hunker down and put their supplies down. Residents are also tying things down. Now, people in this community remember tropical storm Yselle. in 2014, which caused widespread damage in this area, especially from fallen albesia trees. It doesn't take much wind. You know, these albesias are really soft and they're brittle. The branches just fall and, you know, cause all kind of havocs. You live alone. Are you worried about being trapped in your neighborhood? Yes. I mean, I don't even have a vehicle, so I just... Things do cross my mind. I stocked up on food, so I'm good with that, and I tied up my loose objects and things. The rain is not going to bother us. It's the wind that will get us in trouble. And again, we have our fingers crossed everybody out there. Hope everybody stays safe. Napajoa resident Tisha Waitenko says she's got all of her supplies, but she's really worried that Government Beach Road is the only emergency route available for her community, especially with those albesia trees. During the Kona Lowe storm, she says her area was without power for two and a half days back in March, which she says was unacceptable and unexpected. We are already starting to see people arrive. One woman said she's going to stay here overnight because her old home just can't. take the water. Reporting live from Pahoa, Mahalini Richardson, Hawaii News Now. Maha, thank you very much. Stay safe out there. 533 right now. If you're watching us, thank you very much for watching Hawaii News Now. As we keep you and your Ohana safe, we're also on streaming app and we're also on the internet and we're going to get to some internet comments. Just a reminder, you can download the Hawaii News Now Weather app right now. Turn on your camera and on your digital device. Point it towards a QR code right here. starts to download automatically onto your digital device. What I'm going to do is on some of these comments, I'm going to say first name only, just for, just, I want to keep you in a little bit of privacy there. So Tony in Popeyeko, Guy, says winds are picking up here. Mallory in Kahloy says, no rain or wind yet, how are you guys doing? Kikipi Ohana says no rain, but windy in Hawaiian beaches. One item here, Kohala area. John Paul says power outage. Kristen Hirano also says,

power, no power since 1.30 this morning and dumping rain. Yeah, we know that Kauai Hai's got a lot of wind already. You know it's that funnel, right? It gups from Waimea all the way down and it increases in speed with the terrain. And it's always one of the windier spots and it's strange because you head backwards towards Kona and the winds really lighten up. But that won't be the case today with that storm's approach, right? Because even the corner side expected to get walled by some strong winds. Yeah, as a matter of fact, Ahmed al-Sharaa Martinez will be here in just a little bit and she'll have some of the traffic aspects. on what's happening on Hawaii Island. Let's go ahead and a couple of things that I wanted to ask you about here. We're going to take a look at the radar, right? Yeah, take a look at the radar so you can see that storm, right? Last check it was like 165 miles off of South Point, but it's obviously moving closer because it's moving 13 miles an hour. That was at 2 a.m. So it's, you know, 50 miles closer now, so probably inside of 100 miles. And that's the center of the storm because obviously the rain bands are hitting as far, you know, as the Waimea area, Hawaii High getting a lot of rain, WIPO Valley. And look, the heaviest rain is still the calm, Billy. Look at all that. You can see all that heavy, that yellows, those oranges. We haven't had thunderstorms reported just yet, but that's not out of the question. So by this afternoon, it's forecast to become a hurricane. Maybe even before that, but the next update for us is coming at 2 o'clock, right? So there you go. And it's likely to pass near or on the south. point area. So that means they're going to get hurricane force winds all the way island-wide up towards Kauai High and then you know pretty much along the east side and the heaviest rainfall expected in that stretch from Pahala down towards Nala. I know that meteorologists don't really or actually the National Weather Service doesn't really discuss this a lot but local people we do. How much of an effect will Mauna Kea and Mount Aloha have on this storm? Well we do well that's hard to say we do know that when Whenever a storm like this encounters mountainous drier terrain, it interrupts the wind flow, right? And it interrupts the strength, and it sort of weakens it to some extent. And I know locals, especially people on Hawaii Island, have seen anecdotal events where all of a sudden a storm will start to fall apart. And meteorologically, you go, eh. It's kind of far away for that to happen, but it could likely happen, and it's expected to weaken after it passes the Big Island? Is that a result of the mountains? Hard to say it, but it is expected to weaken after it passes Hawaii Island for a short time. Still remain a very strong tropical storm, but is expected to reignite once it passes Kauai back into a hurricane. So that's kind of strange. This is strange because usually we see these from Mexico in the Pacific waters, and they... get, you know, a week, a week and a half notice on this one. This one was very different. So that's why tropical systems that form in the Central Pacific are so very dangerous to us, because it doesn't give us the lead time, right? Normally, with a hurricane, the luxury is we have a week. It may be more of tracking this and having to tell everybody, get prepared now, you've got time, you can build up your hurricane kit, you can check your house, make all those hurricane preps. But with this one, we only had a couple days. And at that point, too, it was so slow in developing. It really didn't give us a lot of time, a lot of heads up on what's ahead and what to expect. So actually, what the people at the Hurricane Center did is they did something unusual, is they issued a forecast for a potential cyclone, and they issued a track.

and issued projected strengths as well. And that was very, very unusual because normally they wait for it to become a depression. But because the time was getting closer and shorter, they figured they had to do that in the name of safety. I want to turn towards flooding a little bit because we're talking about a lot of rain, especially coming up on Hawaii Island. You've said this before. If you've had historically, if you've experienced flooding happening in your area, there's a likelihood you should be concerned about what's happening. Especially with the widespread nature of the rain with this one, right? It's going to favor many areas, especially those windward areas, but leeward sides could see a fair bit of rain as well. Remember, what we're giving you are only projections, right? Now, in terms of the wind, I put this arrow out, right, gives you an idea of when it's near Oahu to the south of Oahu, the hurricane force winds, the wind stronger than 40 miles an hour. Extend out 205 miles from the center of the storm. So even if it wobbles to the south, we'll still be within that envelope of very strong and powerful winds. So there's a chance for us to get tropical storm force winds and the consequence, obviously, maybe some power outages. All right, once again, we are on social media as well. So leave your comments for us. We're watching for them. We'll answer if you have any questions as we go throughout the broadcast this morning. Guy, thank you very much. Sure. Let's get you back over to Steve and Grace. Yep, thanks, Billy. Thanks, thanks, Guy. The Hawaii Tourism Authority is urging visitors. to shelter at their hotels or accommodations as Lala approaches and to follow instructions from staff and local officials. Please listen. Travelers should check with their airline before heading to the airport and confirm tours because schedules may change. On Hawaii Island, most of Hawaii Volcano National Park will close, along with county bus routes and beaches this weekend. There are several Kauai Parks and trails that are also closing, including the Nepali Coast and Puli Halle State Park. Visitor updates are available at htia.hawai.gov. The U.S. Coast Guard is escalating port preparedness conditions across the state as the storm approaches. Hawaii and Maui counties are now in port condition Zulu, meaning that the island's ports are completely closed. Honolulu and Kauai County are in port condition Yankee, meaning that ports will prohibit incoming traffic. We're going to keep you updated on these port conditions if changes are made throughout the morning here on sunrise. We also have information for those planning to fly this weekend. Southwest and Hawaiian Alaska Airlines have posted travel advisories ahead of Tropical Storm Lala. Southwest is warning customers of potential flight disruptions through tomorrow. So if you currently have a reservation with Southwest to Hawaii this weekend, you can visit the website for more information on rebooking as well as refunds. Meanwhile, Hawaiian Alaska Airlines has announced that all flights to Hila have been suspended for today. All neighbor island service to and from Kona scheduled for Saturday after 2 p.m. and through the evening, that's been canceled. Five Saturday trans-Pacific flights to and from Kona, those have been canceled. Flights to Maui and Kauai have also been affected.

For a full list of affected flights, you can visit the website that you see right there at the bottom of your screen. All right, we do have Ahmed al-Sharaa here. She is monitoring traffic, and she's going to make sure we see what roads are closed on Hawaii Island. Yeah, but she's also seeing problems here on Oahu unrelated to the storm. She's got all of that coming up next. And we're going to go back to Hawaii Island. Jonathan Masaki is live with an update on the wind and the rain. They're already seeing it. We'll be right back. Aloha Warrior fans, the news is out. UH games are coming home to K5. All the games, UH shows, athlete profiles, and throwbacks to your favorites are all in one place. Hawaii News Now. Celebrate the home team with us and let's go Bose.