{"id":48425,"date":"2026-08-16T09:35:36","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T04:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=48425"},"modified":"2026-08-16T09:35:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T04:35:36","slug":"hurricane-lala-leaves-thousands-without-power-in-hawaii-amid-life-threatening-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=48425","title":{"rendered":"Hurricane Lala leaves thousands without power in Hawaii amid &#8216;life threatening&#8217; conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F08%2Fnewspress-collage-ufhsd4qz3-1786854001733.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall%261786839644\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/08\/15\/us-news\/hurricane-lala-cancels-lax-hawaii-flights-as-category-1-storm-nears-big-island\/\">Hurricane\u00a0Lala\u00a0approached\u00a0Hawaii\u00a0<\/a>with strong winds and heavy rain on Saturday, leaving more than 40,000 utility customers\u00a0without\u00a0power\u00a0across the state as the National\u00a0Hurricane\u00a0Center warned of \u201clife-threatening\u201d\u00a0conditions.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0poweroutage.com website showed 42,889 customers\u00a0without\u00a0power\u00a0as of 2:14 p.m. in\u00a0Hawaii, including 31,792 on the Big Island and 7,203 in Maui County, which includes the islands of Maui, Lanai and Molokai.<\/p>\n<p>An advisory <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/08\/14\/us-news\/tropical-storm-lala-forms-in-pacific-expected-to-make-rare-hawaiian-landfall-with-flooding-rain\/\">from the\u00a0hurricane\u00a0center<\/a> at 2 p.m. HST predicted 10 to 20 inches of rain on the Big Island, and possibly up to 25 inches there, as well as 8 to 12 inches in eastern Maui and 4 to 6 inches in western Maui.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>A downed utility pole hovers above a highway as Hurricane Lala strikes near Ocean View, Hawaii, on Aug. 15, 2026.  <span class=\"credit\">San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThis rainfall will produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in areas of steep terrain,\u201d the center said.<\/p>\n<p>Hawaiian Electric warned customers to expect \u201cpossible extended outages, potentially overnight,\u201d as the storm system made its way westward across\u00a0Hawaii.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>On the Hamakua Coast on the Big Island, utility crews were assessing a 42-mile span of transmission lines after fallen trees knocked down multiple poles and structures,\u00a0Hawaiian Electric spokesperson Darren Pai told TV station\u00a0Hawaii\u00a0News Now.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier in the day, the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/08\/15\/us-news\/hurricane-lala-closes-in-on-hawaii-as-big-island-braces-for-first-hit-in-155-years\/\">US National\u00a0Hurricane\u00a0Center<\/a> said\u00a0Lala\u2019s maximum sustained winds reached 75 mph, making it a Category 1\u00a0hurricane.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>A man holding an umbrella carries supplies out of a store as Hurricane Lala strikes Hawaii on Aug. 15, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Floodwaters overtake a rural road in Volcano Village on Hawaii Island on Aug. 15, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Maunakea Weather Center, on the Big Island\u2019s tallest peak, recorded wind gusts of more than 100 mph throughout the early afternoon, although winds would have been slower closer to sea level.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0Hawaii\u00a0Department of Transportation said it was closing Hilo International Airport and would close Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole at 2 p.m. HST.<\/p>\n<p>The department also closed the\u00a0Hawaii\u00a0Island, Maui County, and Kaua\u2018i commercial ports.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hurricane\u00a0Lala\u00a0approached\u00a0Hawaii\u00a0with strong winds and heavy rain on Saturday, leaving more than 40,000 utility customers\u00a0without\u00a0power\u00a0across the state as the National\u00a0Hurricane\u00a0Center warned of \u201clife-threatening\u201d\u00a0conditions. The\u00a0poweroutage.com website showed 42,889 customers\u00a0without\u00a0power\u00a0as of 2:14 p.m. in\u00a0Hawaii, including 31,792 on the Big Island and 7,203 in Maui County, which includes the islands of Maui, Lanai and Molokai. An advisory from the\u00a0hurricane\u00a0center&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/newspress-collage-ufhsd4qz3-1786854001733.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1786839644&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}