Tropical Storm Lala lashes Hawaii, washes away 100 homes

Tropical storm Lala battered Hawaii on Sunday, washing away or damaging at least 100 homes on the Big Island. No deaths have been confirmed in connection with the homes, Governor Josh Green said. The storm, which weakened from a Category 1 hurricane, never made landfall but still brought torrential rain, gale-force winds and flooding.

Nearly 1,84,000 homes and businesses lost power across the islands, according to the utility tracker poweroutage.us. Two-thirds of Big Island customers faced outages, and at least three hospitals ran on generators. The Honolulu Fire Department responded to more than 600 weather-related calls, including 147 reports of downed trees.

Some parts of the Big Island recorded up to 89 cm of rain, loosening steep slopes. Flooding damaged roads and small bridges, leaving up to 2,500 residents isolated near Pahala. forecasters expect Lala could strengthen back into a hurricane by Tuesday or Wednesday after it has moved well west of the island chain.