health
Tropical storm Lala wreaks ‘devastation’ to some areas of Hawaii’s Big Island
Storm that brought heavy rains and winds left one person dead and more than 100,000 without power and damaged at least 100 homes and bridges
TL;DR
- Tropical Storm Lala caused one death, over 100,000 power outages, and damaged at least 100 homes and six bridges on Hawaii's Big Island.
- Rising floodwaters and high winds led to widespread destruction, with some areas described as 'devastation'.
- Utility crews are working to restore power, but rural areas may face outages for weeks.
- Officials warn of casualties occurring during the cleanup phase due to hazards like downed power lines and heavy machinery.
- Damage estimates run into the hundreds of millions of dollars statewide.
- Parts of a major highway collapsed, cutting off road access to Pahala and its only hospital.
- On Oahu, over 600 weather-related responses were reported, including downed trees and damaged roofs.
- The storm, downgraded from a hurricane, could potentially regain hurricane strength.
- Hawaii last experienced a major hurricane in 1992 with Hurricane Iniki.