Hawaii braces for hurricane Iselle, tropical storm Julio

Hurricane Iselle and tropical storm Julio headed toward the tourist haven of Hawaii Wednesday in a rare combination of stormy tropical weather. Hawaii residents were stocking up on food and water as officials advised preparing for seven days of supplies in advance of hurricane Iselle and tropical storm Julio. 

|
Audrey McAvoy/AP
Shoppers stock up on cases of bottled water and other supplies in preparation for a hurricane and tropical storm heading toward Hawaii at the Iwilei Costco in Honolulu on Tuesday. Two big storms so close together is rare in the eastern Pacific, and Hurricane Iselle could make landfall by Friday and Tropical Storm Julio could hit two or three days later, weather officials said.

Hurricane Iselle and tropical storm Julio were heading west across the Pacific Ocean toward the tourist haven of Hawaii Wednesday, where officials announced school closures and warned visitors and residents to prepare.

High winds, heavy rain, sea surges, and flash floods were forecast.

Hurricane Iselle was about 860 miles (1,384 km) east of Hilo, on the Island of Hawaii, moving west-northwest at 13 miles per hour (21 km per hour) with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (161 kph), the National Hurricane Center said on Wednesday.

"Iselle is moving toward the west-northwest near 13 mph," according to the latest update from the National Weather Service's Central Pacific Hurricane Center. "This general motion is expected to continue through Thursday, with a slight increase in forward speed. On this forecast track, the outer winds of Iselle may reach the easternmost Hawaiian islands early Thursday afternoon."

Residents were stocking up on basics as authorities in Honolulu advised them to prepare a seven-day disaster supply kit. The hurricane was forecast to weaken over the next 48 hours, the NHC center said.

Further east over the Pacific, Tropical Storm Julio was about 1,290 miles (2,076 km) from Baja California in Mexico and also expected to continue moving west-northwest through Thursday, the NHC said on Wednesday.

That storm was moving at 15 mph (24 kph) and has maximum sustained wind speeds of 65 mph (100 kph), it said.

Shoppers in Honolulu waited in line at supermarkets with carts full of bottled water, batteries and nonperishable food items.

"With Hawaii's remoteness, it could be as long as a week before a full disaster relief operation can be initiated," the department said in a statement late on Monday.

Honolulu school teacher Gina Nakahodo said she had felt calm about the situation, until she reached the empty water aisle of her local grocery store early on Tuesday.

"We've had so many storms that have passed us by, but with these two back to back you begin to worry. Then all of the sudden the aisles are empty and there's no water and it makes your heart pound a little," Nakahodo said.

She said she talked to a couple visiting from California, and told them everything was going to be OK. "But in the back of my mind I'm wondering, 'what's going to happen?'," she said.

The Coast Guard warned people to prepare for the onset of heavy weather by Thursday, with thehurricane and tropical storm expected to generate extreme sea conditions, storm surge and surf of 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.6 meters) throughout the island chain.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch from early Thursday to early Saturday, withHurricane Iselle expected to bring heavy rains to the islands.

Public schools would be closed on Thursday on the islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai and the Big Island, the Hawaii State Department of Education said.

Hurricanes rarely hit Hawaii. The state was washed over by Hurricane Flossie in 2007, which caused 20-foot (6-meter) waves but very little damage. Hurricane Neki did minor damage to a marine national monument northwest of the islands in 2009.

In 1992, Hurricane Iniki pummeled the island of Kauai, killing six people and causing estimated damages of $2.4 billion. Before that, the last recorded hurricane to hit Hawaii was the Kohala Cyclone in 1871.

Separately on Tuesday, the NHC said Bertha, the second hurricane of the 2014 Atlantic season, had weakened to a tropical storm some 475 miles (765 km) west of Bermuda.

For the most up-to-date information, visit the National Weather Service's Central Pacific Hurricane Center website

(Reporting by Malia Mattoch McManus in Honolulu; Additional reporting by Daniel Wallis. Writing by Eric M. Johnson Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Hawaii braces for hurricane Iselle, tropical storm Julio
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Latest-News-Wires/2014/0806/Hawaii-braces-for-hurricane-Iselle-tropical-storm-Julio
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe