(BIVN) – State and County officials held a news conference on Friday evening concerning the hurricane threat to Hawaiʻi posed by Tropical Storm Lala.
Lala is expected to be a hurricane as it moves near the southern end of Hawaiʻi Island on Saturday. A Hurricane Warning is in effect for the entire island.
“None of us really have experienced this in the last couple of decades,” said Governor Josh Green, addressing the public during the social media livestream.
“One thing to note about this tropical storm, right now, is that the windfield is large, especially on the northern side,” said John Bravender, NOAA/National Weather Service Warning Coordination Meteorologist. “So, as it moves through, we might have memories of Hurricane Iselle in 2014, that hit the Big Island – the last tropical storm landfall on the Big Island. It it was a hurricane. It weakened to a tropical storm before making landfall and caused a lot of damage along the windward side of the Big Island and also a lot of damage on Maui, as well. The windfield from Lala is much bigger than that was back in 2014. So that’s another consideration.”
As of 5 p.m. , the Central pacific Hurricane Center reported tropical-storm-force winds generated by Lala extend outward up to 220 miles (350 km) from the center.
Governor Green reported all state airports are open and operating normally. However, as of 5 p.m., Hawaiian Airlines reported a total of 23 flight cancellations for Saturday.
Hawaiʻi Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. Stephen Logan, said during the news conference that the Hawaiʻi National Guard is prepared to support state and county emergency response efforts.
“Approximately 180 Hawaii National Guard personnel have been activated and are positioned statewide to support rescue operations,” Maj. Gen. Logan reported. “On Oʻahu, the Hawaiʻi National Guard joint staff, a command and control element, has been activated and will support all the other island task forces should they be needed.”
“Task Force Hawaiʻi on the Big Island is made up of about 33 guardsmen,” Maj. Gen. Logan said. “It’s postured in anticipation of the potential impacts of the tropical storm or hurricane that’s coming late tonight or early tomorrow morning and all the way through the weekend.”
Hawaiʻi County Mayor Kimo Alameda also spoke during the news conference. “Civil defense, we’re fully activated,” Mayor Alameda said. “We just got out of out of a meeting and we’re here, 24/7, and we got you covered.”
