Hawaii geared up on Saturday to face a hurricane that threatened to pummel the islands with dangerous surf, strong winds and flash floods even as residents grappled with escalating numbers of coronavirus cases.
Stars and Stripes is making stories on the coronavirus pandemic available free of charge. See other free reports here. Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter here. Please support our journalism with a subscription. Hawaii geared up on Saturday to face a hurricane that threatened to pummel the islands with dangerous surf, strong winds and flash floods even as residents grappled with escalating numbers of coronavirus cases. Powerful storms are familiar to many in Hawaii who have spent the past several summers preparing for tropical cyclones. But the pandemic adds a new twist. Luke Meyers, the administrator of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, urged people get ready by learning about the hazards where they live. « We know that things are going to get wet, things are going to blow and things are going to slide, » Meyers said. The National Weather Service on Saturday issued a hurricane warning for the island of Oahu, where the state’s largest city, Honolulu, is located. The Big Island and Maui remain in a hurricane watch. Maximum sustained winds have decreased and were about 90 mph, making it a Category 1 hurricane by midday Saturday. The storm is expected to be near the main Hawaiian islands late Saturday and move over the state Sunday and Monday. The weather service said the storm is expected to gradually weaken over the weekend, but still be near hurricane strength when it nears the islands. The storm was about 520 miles southeast of Honolulu Saturday.
