Hawaii residents urged to remain vigilant after hurricane

A beachgoer lets her towel fly in the winds whipped up by Tropical Storm Lane on Kailua Beach (Marco Garcia/AP) Credit: AP/Press Association Images

Torrential rain is now the biggest threat to Hawaii after a once-powerful hurricane that skirted the islands was downgraded to a tropical storm, officials have said.

In a message to citizens, Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Brock Long urged people to continue to take the storm seriously and “don’t let your guard down”.

He added: “Tropical storms can be very dangerous and Hawaii is not in the clear from Tropical Storm Lane at this point.

Several more days of rain are forecast, he said, and mudslides caused by downpours have already caused damage to the transport infrastructure, mostly in Hawaii County on the Big Island.

“The rainfall event is not over,” he said. “Torrential rains will be the largest threat that we see for the next 48 hours.

“We are standing by to continue our support for the response and eventually the recovery efforts that are taking place.”

Lane roared towards the island chain earlier this week as a Category 5 hurricane. That meant it was likely to cause catastrophic damage with winds of 157mph or above.

But upper-level winds known as shear swiftly tore the storm apart. By late on Friday, the National Weather Service said Lane had maximum sustained winds of 70mph as it slowly twisted west about 120 miles south of Honolulu.

The outer bands of the hurricane dumped as much as 3ft of rain in 48 hours on the mostly rural Big Island. The main town of Hilo, population 43,000, was flooded with waist-high water as landslides shut roads.

As flooding hit the Big Island, brush fires broke out in areas of Maui and Oahu susceptible to flames.

Onlookers watch large waves crash on the rocks at Wawamalu Beach, Waimanalo, as the seas are stirred up by Tropical Storm Line Credit: Marco Garcia/AP

Some residents in a shelter on Maui had to flee when a fire got too close, and another fire forced people from their homes.

In Waikiki, the man-made Ala Wai Canal is likely to flood if predicted rains arrive, said Ray Alexander of the US Army Corps of Engineers. The canal marks the northern boundary of the Waikiki tourist district.

“The canal has flooded in the past, and I believe it’s safe to say based on the forecast of rainfall it’s likely to flood again – the impacts of which we aren’t prepared to say at this time,” he added.