Tropical Storm Lala has killed at least one person and knocked out power to nearly 70% of Hawaii's Big Island, sweeping homes off their foundations and dumping rainfall measured in feet, with forecasters warning the worst is still ahead for several islands.
The storm briefly reached Category 1 hurricane strength Saturday afternoon before weakening back to a tropical storm, but the downgrade did little to slow the damage. Flash floods tore through Big Island communities, downed trees blocked roads, and at least two homes were carried off their foundations by rushing water. The National Hurricane Center's latest advisory put Lala's sustained winds at 70 mph as the system moved northwest through the Pacific at 15 mph, keeping a Tropical Storm Warning in effect across the entire state.
Governor Josh Green, who declared a State of Emergency on Thursday, confirmed at least one person died in a storm-related car accident. AP News reported that more than 130,000 households lost power across Hawaii's three largest islands, with at least three hospitals forced to run on generator power. Nineteen roofs were torn off, and a search-and-rescue mission launched after flash floods swept several occupied homes off their foundations.
Lala's center passed the Big Island on Saturday, and the island absorbed the worst of the initial onslaught. Between 15 and 17 inches of rain fell on windward slopes of the Big Island and Maui over a 12-hour window, with projections that totals could reach two feet. AP News put the figure even higher for elevated terrain, up to nearly three feet of rainfall on higher windward slopes.
The Wailuku River, which feeds Rainbow Falls and flows into the city of Hilo, surged to its sixth-highest level on record. Waves up to 25 feet battered eastern-facing shorelines. In the small community of Waiohinu on the Big Island's southern tip, downed trees and power lines blocked roadways. Flooding swamped roads in Waimea, and debris washed ashore in Wainaku, near Hilo.
Hawaii County Mayor Kimo Alameda described the conditions facing first responders on the ground:
"What makes this very challenging is that there's rushing water, there's debris, and there's boulders on the road and it's dark."
That is the reality facing the people who live with the consequences of a storm like this, not abstract forecasts, but boulders in the road and floodwater in the dark. The system that became Lala had been tracked for days as it organized in the Eastern Pacific, giving residents and officials time to prepare. But preparation only goes so far when rivers hit record levels and homes leave their foundations.
Direct tropical storm and hurricane strikes on Hawaii are exceptionally uncommon. Fox News reported that Lala could be the first tropical storm to directly hit Hawaii in 75 years. Breitbart noted the Big Island had not experienced a direct hurricane landfall since 1871, more than 150 years ago.
That historical rarity made the storm's approach all the more significant. Governor Green issued his emergency declaration Thursday, two days before the worst conditions arrived, and urged residents to prepare.
Green's full statement ahead of the storm laid out the stakes plainly, as FOX Weather reported:
"Lala poses a serious threat to our state, particularly Hawaiʻi Island."
National Weather Service meteorologist Vanessa Almanza warned before the storm arrived that the damage zone extends well beyond a hurricane's eye. "It doesn't take landfall to create destruction," she said. "A lot of the impacts are felt outside of the hurricane." That warning proved accurate, Lala never made a direct landfall on the Big Island, yet the destruction was severe.
Even as the Big Island assessed its damage Saturday, forecasters made clear the storm was far from finished with Hawaii. The FOX Forecast Center warned that "the worst impacts are still to come across Maui, Molokai, Oahu, Lanai, and Kauaʻi." The storm center was expected to begin turning west on Sunday, tracking toward Oahu and Kauaʻi.
Just The News reported that forecasters anticipated storm surge reaching up to three feet in some areas, with dangerous surf and powerful rip currents. The Big Island had already absorbed punishing conditions, and the same pattern of torrential rain and flooding was now bearing down on more densely populated islands.
AP News added another concern: forecasters said Lala could potentially regain hurricane strength midweek, meaning the threat may not end when the storm clears the main islands.
With nearly 70% of the Big Island's power knocked out and hospitals running on generators, the storm exposed the fragility of island infrastructure under extreme weather. Roads blocked by downed trees and debris limited access for emergency responders. The scale of power loss, across three of Hawaii's largest islands, left tens of thousands of households in the dark.
Bobby Camara, a 75-year-old Big Island resident, told AP News he was not surprised by the need for self-sufficiency. "I think stocking up is part of life over here," he said. "You learn to be self-reliant."
That kind of practical resilience is what carries communities through disasters, not government press conferences, but neighbors who stock their shelves and secure their homes before the winds arrive. The broader pattern driving this season's Pacific tropical activity, fueled by a strengthening El Niño, suggests Hawaii may face more of these tests before 2026 is over.
State Rep. Jeanné Kapela urged residents before the storm to get to safety early. "We're encouraging residents to take this storm seriously, remain vigilant, and get somewhere safe before conditions deteriorate," she said.
For the families whose homes were swept off their foundations Saturday, that window has closed. For the rest of Hawaii's island chain, it is narrowing fast. When rivers run at record levels and the lights go out across an entire island, the only thing standing between a family and disaster is what they did before the storm arrived, not what officials promised afterward.
