Hawaii has been hit by flash floods and mudslides that have swept away homes after category one Hurricane Lala skirted Big Island, leaving one person dead in a car accident.
More than 100 properties were uprooted from their foundations on Big Island, but Governor Josh Green said there “amazingly” did not seem to have been any wider loss of life.
Despite not even making landfall, the storm still dumped up to 32in (81cm) of rain in places, sending torrents raging down mountainsides. More than 200,000 households were without power.
Although Lala has since weakened to a tropical storm and was tracking westward, south of Hawaii, the danger is not over, say officials.
The storm’s eyewall howled within 30 miles (48km) of Big Island’s South Point overnight, but it was close enough to bring flash flooding, Hawaii County said on Sunday.
After gaining hurricane strength on Saturday afternoon, packing wind speeds of 91mph, Lala’s winds have now decreased to near 65mph, said the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in its latest advisory at 20:00 EDT (00:00 GMT) on Sunday.
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