A new tropical system is bearing down on Hawaii's Big Island barely two weeks after Hurricane Lala dumped over three feet of rain on the same communities, and forecasters say the worst of it arrives Sunday.
Tropical Depression Two-C formed Thursday morning in the Central Pacific with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph, and the National Hurricane Center expects it to strengthen into Tropical Storm Moke by Friday. The storm is tracking toward the Big Island, where roads remain washed out and more than 11,000 customers were still without electricity as of early Friday, FOX Weather reported.
The system, formerly tagged as Invest 90E in the Eastern Pacific, crossed into the Central Pacific basin before organizing into a tropical depression. The NHC projects it will deliver five to ten inches of rain to the Big Island, with localized pockets of up to 15 inches, numbers that would be alarming under normal circumstances but are especially dangerous given the saturated ground and damaged infrastructure Lala left behind.
Hurricane Lala struck Hawaii's Big Island last week as a Category 1 storm, hammering the island with rain and wind before rapidly intensifying to a Category 4 system after moving past the islands. The damage it left behind was severe.
Nearly three feet of rain fell near Nāʻālehu, a community on the southeastern tip of the Big Island. Parts of Māmalahoa Highway, a major route, were washed away entirely. Nāʻālehu was cut off from surrounding areas through at least early this week, with road access severed by the flooding.
Major flooding also hit Waiohinu, and rural roads in Volcano Village were swamped. At Reed's Bay in Hilo, ocean waters had already been rising on August 14 as Lala approached. By August 15, the storm had strengthened to Category 1 with winds up to 75 mph, and residents in Hawaiian Ocean View were photographed hauling supplies through the storm.
That was barely a week ago. Now those same communities face another round.
The FOX Forecast Center says the latest models keep future-Moke on a track farther south than Lala's path, which could spare some of the hardest-hit areas from a direct repeat. The heaviest rain is expected to arrive on the Big Island on Sunday, with the system projected to pass south of the rest of the island chain by Monday.
Maui is forecast to receive one to two inches of rain as the storm slides past. Beyond the rainfall, forecasters warn of life-threatening surf and rip currents along exposed shorelines, plus a flash-flood threat and potential mudslides in steep terrain, hazards compounded by ground already saturated from Lala.
Two tropical systems threatening the same Hawaiian communities within roughly two weeks is unusual. Hawaii sits far enough from typical tropical cyclone tracks that direct hits remain relatively rare, which makes back-to-back threats all the more consequential for residents and emergency responders still dealing with Lala's aftermath.
The broader 2026 hurricane season has already tested the islands. Hurricane Fausto earlier threatened Hawaiian shores with large waves and rip currents, and Lala's lifecycle stretched well beyond its initial landfall.
After striking the Big Island as a Category 1 hurricane, Lala rapidly intensified to Category 4 strength by Wednesday, a dramatic escalation that occurred over open water after the storm had already caused widespread damage on land. By the time of this latest reporting, the NHC had downgraded Lala back to Category 1, but the system was still spinning in the Central Pacific.
That post-landfall intensification raised separate concerns. Lala regained Category 3 strength at one point, threatening marine environments far from shore even as Hawaii dealt with the terrestrial damage.
Meanwhile, the full scope of Lala's toll on the Big Island remains unclear. The source reporting does not specify whether any injuries or fatalities resulted from the storm, and no emergency declarations at the state or federal level are mentioned in connection with either Lala's damage or Moke's approach.
The most pressing concern for Big Island residents is timing. More than 11,000 customers were still without electricity as of early Friday, meaning power crews have at best a narrow window before the next system arrives. Restoring service to remote communities already cut off by washed-out roads is difficult under clear skies. Doing it with another tropical storm inbound is a different problem entirely.
Lala's initial impact swept homes off foundations and left communities reeling from historic flooding. Adding five to ten more inches of rain, potentially 15 in the worst spots, to already-compromised terrain raises the risk of further landslides, road failures, and prolonged isolation for rural communities.
No watches or warnings specific to Tropical Depression Two-C were mentioned in the available reporting, and it remains unclear whether state or county officials have issued any preparedness orders ahead of Moke's expected arrival.
The formation of Tropical Depression Two-C drew immediate attention precisely because of Lala's fresh damage. Residents who just endured a Category 1 hurricane are now watching another system take aim at the same coastline, with less infrastructure and fewer resources to absorb the blow.
Hawaii's Big Island has endured more in two weeks than most communities face in an entire hurricane season. The people living with the consequences deserve a response that matches the scale of what they are dealing with, and they deserve it before the next storm makes landfall, not after.
