Hawaii’s Big Island avoided a direct hit from Lala as the storm passed offshore Saturday, easing a threat that had raised the prospect of the island’s first hurricane landfall in more than a century.
Lala’s top winds were at 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour, down from 80 mph earlier, as it moved northwest along the western side of the Big Island, the US National Hurricane Center said in an advisory . It was earlier within 30 miles of South Point. The Category 1 hurricane was already bearing down on the island chain with stiff winds and rain since Saturday morning.
“Damaging winds and heavy rain will persist across the Big Island and Maui county overnight and spread westward across Oahu and Kauai county on Sunday,” the center said. “Rainfall will produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in areas of steep terrain.”
While the Big Island has gone more than a century without a hurricane strike, Hawaii isn’t immune to tropical storms. Hurricane Iniki struck Kauai in 1992, and the state has faced weaker tropical storms and near misses since then.
In 2023, Hurricane Dora passed far to the south, but helped set up wind patterns that fanned flames across Maui where fires raged out of control and killed more than 100 people.
No hurricanes struck the US in 2025 and so far only two tropical storms have struck the Gulf Coast in 2026. Super Typhoons Sinlaku and Bavi devastated the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands earlier this year.
As much as 20 inches (51 centimeters) of rain may fall across the Big Island, with isolated spots getting 25 inches, according to the center Elsewhere, as much as 1 foot may fall on eastern Maui and between 4 and 6 inches across the rest of the chain.
There were 130 flights into and out of Honolulu and Hilo canceled on Saturday, and another 17 as of 3 a.m. Sunday New York time, according to FlightAware.