Lala is again a tropical storm, sending drenching rain and winds across Hawaii

A view of the rising water levels at the Wainaku Street Bridge in Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026. Taylor Cozloff/AP/Civil Beat hide caption

Hurricane Lala weakened to a tropical storm Sunday after skirting Hawaii without making landfall, but it wasn't done punishing the Big Island with hurricane-force gusts. Total rainfall of nearly three feet (one meter) was expected on the higher windward slopes, turning rivers into raging torrents and threatening mudslides.

Tropical storm conditions were spreading westward Sunday from Maui to Oahu and then Kauai, and the National Hurricane Center warned that wind speeds atop mountains and on the windward and leeward slopes are often up to 30% stronger than the near-surface winds used to categorize storms.

Powerful waves pounded the Big Island's coast as Lala slowly passed by. Howling winds whipped palm trees and waterways swelled with fast-moving runoff from relentless rain that blew nearly sideways.

More than 130,000 households were without power Sunday morning across Hawaii's three largest islands, according to the utility tracker poweroutage.us. At least three hospitals were operating on generator power, Gov. Josh Green said.

At least one person died in a car accident in the South Point area of the Big Island, while 19 roofs were lost in the "enormous storm," the governor said Saturday evening. "There have been a lot of roads impacted, our crews have already been out to more than 30 sites."

A search-and-rescue mission including Civil Defense, the National Guard and Coast Guard was launched after flash floods apparently swept several occupied homes off their foundations in the coastal communities of Na'alehu and Wai'ohinu, near the island's southern tip, Hawaii County Mayor Kimo Alameda said early Sunday.

"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," Alameda said.