Hawaii Big Island counts 30-35 inches of rain as Lala weakens

For climate and energy planners, Hurricane Lala is a reminder that the Pacific's most damaging tropical systems increasingly arrive as water rather than wind. An expected 30-35 inches of rain on the Big Island's windward side tested drainage, road, and power infrastructure even as the storm was downgraded before landfall. As Hawaii pushes toward renewable energy and distributed generation, this event highlights the need to weatherize generation and grid assets against compound flood and landslide risk.

Hurricane Lala's weakening from a Category 1 hurricane to a tropical storm early on Aug. 16 did not end Hawaii's hazard exposure; it shifted the acute threat from wind to water and opened a complex, multi-day recovery that began before the last rain band had cleared the archipelago. Lala strengthened on Saturday, Aug. 15, with sustained winds up to 75 miles per hour (120 kilometers per hour, or 129 km/h in one report), but made no landfall. At 2 a.m. local time on Sunday, Aug. 16 (1200 GMT), the National Hurricane Center downgraded Lala as it pulled away from the Big Island, even as tropical storm warnings remained in effect for the state's seven other major islands: Maui, Molokai, Kahoolawe, Lanai, Oahu, Kauai, and Niihau. The NHC projected a maximum storm total of 30 to 35 inches (76 to 89 centimeters) of rainfall over the windward Big Island, with heavy rain and flood risk spreading westward across the island chain.

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For climate and energy planners, Hurricane Lala is a reminder that the Pacific's most damaging tropical systems increasingly arrive as water rather than wind.

The central public-safety story emerging from the recovery is not wind damage but post-storm mortality risk. Governor Josh Green said at an Aug. 16 news conference that officials were still investigating whether any storm-related deaths had occurred, noting a 'terrible car accident' that may have been linked to the storm, and referencing the vulnerability of unhoused residents. Hawaii Emergency Management Director Randy Collins delivered the more actionable warning: many casualties happen after the disaster, during cleanup, when people operate chainsaws, generators, and heavy equipment around downed power lines. That message matters because it reframes the operational window for first responders, utilities, and county emergency managers. The highest-risk hours may not have been during Lala's closest approach, but in the several days of debris removal and power restoration that follow.

For climate and energy analysts, Lala offers a data point in a longer pattern: tropical cyclones in the central Pacific increasingly deliver their most destructive impacts through rainfall and inland flooding rather than peak wind alone. A forecast of 30-35 inches of rain on windward mountain slopes implies saturated soils, flash flood and landslide potential, road washouts, and stress on drainage, water treatment, and power distribution systems. Hawaii's electricity grid is already notable for its high penetration of rooftop solar and ambitious renewable targets; heavy rain and floodwater can compromise ground-mounted solar arrays, inverters, and underground cable vaults, while downed lines slow restoration. The storm did not make landfall, which likely limited structural wind damage, but that distinction can be misleading for risk models that weight insured losses toward named-storm wind claims. Flood and landslide damage can be just as costly and more difficult to map.