Tropical Storm Hone didn’t hit Hawaii Island directly, but did leave its calling card over the weekend in the form of heavy rainfall and gusty winds.
“It passed just south of the Big Island but the eye never came over the island,” Thomas Vaughan, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Honolulu, said Monday. “It’s heading on away from us and, in fact, there’s some drier air that’s going to fill in over the islands. … We should be all but done from Hone.”
As of 5 p.m. Monday, Hone, which briefly achieved Category-1 hurricane status, was 510 miles west of Hilo and 445 miles west of Kailua-Kona, with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph, traveling west at 13 mph.
Outer rain bands from Hone produced a prolonged period of heavy rainfall from Saturday through most of Sunday, according to Kevin Kodama, NWS Honolulu senior service hydrologist. Several rain gauges along the windward and southeast-facing slopes of the Big Island reported two-day totals greater than 20 inches.
“Fortunately, rain rates were mostly below an inch per hour, which mitigated more serious flooding beyond road closures in low-lying areas,” Kodama said.
Some of the highest rainfall totals include: Hakalau, 28.82 inches; Saddle Quarry, 25.03 inches; Mountain View, 21.3 inches; Waiakea Uka, 21.04 inches; Honolii Stream, 19.63 inches; Lower Kahuku, 18.37 inches; Kawainui Stream, 18.16 inches; Kapapala Ranch 14.97 inches; and Pahoa, 11.08 inches.
Leeward areas also received rainfall, but far less than the windward totals. Puuanahulu, in North Kona, recorded 1.71 inches, while Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole reported 0.53 inches — which is more rain than its perpetually parched tarmac receives in some months.
The strongest wind gusts, 72 mph, were reported at 9:35 p.m. Saturday at Kohala Ranch. A Hawaii Electric Light Co. facility on Kawaihae Road reported 65 mph gusts at 5:50 a.m. Sunday. Much of the leeward side of the island experienced wind gusts from 45 mph into the upper 50s over the weekend.
As of late Monday afternoon, Highway 11 between the 57-mile marker near Punaluu Black Sands Beach Park and the 63-mile marker near Whittington Beach Park remained closed due to flooding. No alternate routes are available for that road closure.
The county’s Hele-On Bus service was also affected. The 12:30 p.m. Route 90 run from Pahala to Kona and the South Kohala resorts started in Ocean View because of the flooding on Highway 11. The 1:30 p.m. Route 90 run from South Kohala to Kona and Pahala was canceled. Route 12 ran from Pahala to Volcano at 11:20 a.m. The flooding knocked out service to Naalehu, Waiohinu and Ocean View.
And flooding along the Hilo Bayfront moved the Hilo Park and Ride from Mooheau Park downtown to the Wong Stadium parking lot.
County park closures on Monday included the Bayfront Soccer Fields and Carvalho Park in Hilo and Mahukona Beach Park and Wharf in North Kohala.
Jeffe Sceppe, spokesman for Hawaii County Civil Defense, said the latest report Monday afternoon estimated about 1,800 Hawaiian Electric customers were still without power.
“They’re in the upper and lower Puna areas, and those are spot outages that are still being addressed,” Sceppe said.
Two emergency shelters for those without power remained open Monday night: Keaau Armory at Shipman Park and Pahoa Neighborhood Facility at Billy Kenoi District Park.
School closures on Monday included Ka‘u High School and Naalehu and Pahala elementary schools, as well as the Volcano School of Arts and Sciences and Hawaii Academy Arts and Science (HAAS) Public Charter School. According to the state Department of Education, Ka‘u High and Pahala Elementary and Naalehu Elementary schools will reopen today and resume normal operations. Emergency road crews reported at least one lane of Highway 11 will be open to drivers today, providing safe access to both campuses.
Sceppe said Civil Defense has received “about 25 reports” of damage from the public and the agency’s staff officers “are fielding those reports and plan to go out and assess those damages.”
Those with residential or commercial damage from Hone are encouraged to call Civil Defense at (808) 935-0031 to report. Updates on storm-related information are available on the Hazard Impacts Map on the Hawaii County Civil Defense web page.
The state Department of Transportation closed Hilo International Airport Saturday because of the storm, stranding some Hawaiian Airlines and Southwest Airlines passengers. All flights on Sunday were canceled.
“We operated seven round trip flights in and out of Hilo on Saturday but suspended operations after 2 p.m. when the weather deteriorated,” said Hawaiian Airlines spokesman Alex Da silva. “We operated extra flights (Monday), including one with a larger Airbus A321neo aircraft, to accommodate all guests whose travel was disrupted by the storm.”
“We had a few cancellations over the weekend due to Tropical Storm Hone, but added extra flights (Monday) to accommodate those passengers,” added Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Tiffany Valdez, who noted that operations were back to normal on Monday.
There are still two tropical cyclones in the Pacific heading in the general direction of Hawaii, although it’s still too early to say for sure whether they pose a threat.
As of 5 p.m. Monday, Hurricane Gilma was 1,095 miles east of Hilo and approaching the 140 degrees longitude meridian, the threshold to the Central Pacific Basin. It was expected to cross over late last night or early today. Gilma was a Category-2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph, traveling west at 8 mph.
Vaughan said Hawaii forecasters are “not expecting too much impact” from Gilma, “certainly not the type of impacts that we had with Hone.”
“The latest track has it weakening into a tropical storm and marching towards us,” he said. “Then, when it hits 150 degrees West and starts nearing the islands, it weakens into a post-tropical depression. As the remnant moisture sweeps off towards the northwest, it may graze us a little, maybe an increase in tradewind showers this weekend. But even that’s a little uncertain that far out.”
Farther east is Tropical Storm Hector, which at 5 p.m. Monday was 1,865 miles east of Hilo, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph and moving west-northwest at 10 mph.
“The National Hurricane Center has Hector staying as a tropical storm throughout its life cycle,” Vaughan said. “It should cross into the Central Pacific sometime late Wednesday night or early Thursday — and then weakening into a tropical depression and a post-tropical low by this weekend.
“The track for Hector, at least the latest one, keeps it south of Gilma — and at this time, it looks as it will be the least impactful of the three. But we’re really not expecting that much from Gilma or Hector except some enhanced tradewind showers towards the end of the week.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com
