Category 1 hurricane Lala lashes Hawaii’s Big Island, but avoids landfall | World News

Hawaii’s Big Island avoided a direct hit from Hurricane Lala as it passed offshore Saturday, easing a threat that had raised the prospect of the Island’s first landfall in over a century.

Lala’s top winds were at 75 miles (120 kilometres) per hour, down from 80 mph earlier, as it moved northwest along the western side of the Big Island, the United States National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. It was earlier within 30 miles of South Point. The Category 1 hurricane was already bearing down on the island chain with stiff winds and rain since Saturday morning. 

“Damaging winds and heavy rain will persist across the Big Island and Maui county overnight and spread westward across Oahu and Kauai county on Sunday,” the centre said. “Rainfall will produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in areas of steep terrain.”

While the Big Island has gone more than a century without a hurricane strike, Hawaii isn’t immune to tropical storms. Hurricane Iniki struck Kauai in 1992, and the state has faced weaker tropical storms and near misses since then.  In 2023, Hurricane Dora passed far to the south, but helped set up wind patterns that fanned flames across Maui where fires raged out of control and killed more than 100 people.