Hawaii’s Big Island begins recovery efforts as Hurricane Lala downgrades

Heavy rain and strong winds left a fallen tree blocking a Honolulu street as Hurricane Lala moved away from Hawaii’s Big Island, according to AFP photos. Damage assessments and cleanup efforts began on Sunday as the storm downgraded to a tropical storm overnight, continuing to dump heavy rain across the US Pacific state's archipelago.

Hawaii Governor Josh Green addressed a news conference on Sunday, expressing hope for no fatalities while acknowledging the difficulty of determining the cause of a reported car accident and the potential for people experiencing homelessness to have passed away. Randy Collins, director of Hawaii Emergency Management, warned that while the storm had passed, dangers still existed for those cleaning up, particularly with heavy equipment, chainsaws, and generators.

Lala was downgraded from a Category 1 hurricane to a tropical storm early Sunday, according to the National Hurricane Center. The hurricane could maintain its intensity for a few more hours before weakening as it continued to move away from the Big Island. Tropical storm warnings were issued for the state's seven other major islands, with a potential rainfall range of 30 to 35 inches over the windward Big Island.

The storm did not make landfall. The last major hurricane to hit Hawaii was Hurricane Iniki in 1992, which caused at least six deaths and billions in damage. Hawaii was previously threatened by Hurricane Fausto last month, which weakened and skirted north of the island chain. El Nino, a natural climate pattern with unusually warm sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, has formed and is expected to peak between October and December.

This El Nino event has a 69% chance of being historic, amplifying hurricane activity in the Pacific while suppressing it in the Atlantic.