HONOLULU - Hours after getting jolted by a moderate earthquake, Hawaii's Big Island residents holed up for a different force of nature Tuesday: Hurricane Flossie, expected to deliver up to 25 centimetres of rain, waves as high as six metres and strong winds in a powerful but glancing blow.
Schools closed and shelters opened in anticipation of the hurricane, which was downgraded to a Category 2 with top sustained winds of 170 km/h. The eye of the storm was expected to pass within 137 kilometres of the island between 2 and 3 p.m. Hawaii time (8-9 p.m. ET), and wind speeds on land were expected to exceed 64 km/h.
The storm comes on the heels of a 5.4-magnitude earthquake centered 40 kilometres south of Hilo. The quake Monday night caused a small landslide, but there were no reports of injuries or structural damage, said Tom Brown, a spokesman for Hawaii County Civil Defense.
More than two dozen aftershocks followed, the largest measuring magnitude 3.2, said Jim Kauahikaua, scientist in charge at the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
Anticipating Flossie, the Federal Emergency Management Agency dispatched a 20-person advance emergency response team that arrived in Hawaii on Monday, spokeswoman Kim Walz said. The team includes specialists in areas of transportation, aviation, public works and health.
"Instead of waiting for an actual disaster and then going in and providing support, we want to be ready," she said. "We've begun to move resources into place ahead of time to be prepared."
The National Weather Service placed the Big Island under a hurricane watch and a tropical storm warning because of the storm, which was supposed to affect the island through Wednesday. A flash flood watch was also issued for the island.
At 5 p.m. ET, Flossie was about 265 kilometres south-southeast of Hilo and 547 kilometres southeast of Honolulu, the Central Pacific Hurricane Center said. The storm was moving west-northwest at about 16 km/h.
Hurricane-force winds of at least 74 mph extended outward up to 64 kilometres from the center of the storm, while tropical storm force wind of at least 63 km/h extend outward up to 233 kilometres.
"This is too close for comfort," said National Guard Maj. Gen. Robert Lee, the state adjutant general.
Extra pallets of water lined the aisles at Costco in Kona. Most customers had water, batteries and toilet paper in their carts.
At Kamigaki Market in Kealakekua, supervisor Sheryl Tremaine said Tuesday, "People are definitely buying more batteries, canned goods, saimin and, believe it or not, beer and cigarettes." Saimin is a traditional Hawaiian noodle soup.
While Flossie stirred up the Pacific, Tropical Storm Dean formed Tuesday in the open Atlantic, nearly 2,250 kilometres east of the Lesser Antilles. By late morning, it had top sustained wind of 64/km/h, just above the threshold to be a named storm, and was moving west at about 34 km/h, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Dean was moving over increasingly warmer water, where conditions could create a favorable environment for intensification into a hurricane by Friday, but forecasters said it was too early to tell where Dean will go.
In Hawaii, Gov. Linda Lingle signed an emergency disaster proclamation, which activates the National Guard. Hawaii Island Mayor Harry Kim also declared a state of emergency Monday as a precaution.
The Big Island is largely rural, with about 150,000 people, and most live in the west or northeast, not the southern portion expected to be hit hardest by the hurricane. Other islands are expected to get much less wind and rain.
The last time a hurricane hit Hawaii was 1992, when Iniki ravaged Kauai, killing six people and causing US$2.5 billion in damage.
The weather in the southern part of the Big Island was hot and muggy with overcast skies and a light breeze late Tuesday morning.
Marlene Phillips, a Red Cross volunteer who supervised an evacuation site at Kowaena High School, said no one had taken refuge there early Tuesday morning.
"We're just going to cross our fingers that nothing happens," she said.
Frank Carpenter, co-owner of the surfboard and kayak rental shop Kona Boys in Kealakekua, said his normal customer flow of several hundred per day had dwindled to a trickle, as people avoided the water. But he said there were a lot of calls about surf conditions.
"Over the next couple of days, with any luck, it will turn up a little bit of surf and it will be good for business," he said. "We'll start getting people who are looking for a bit of action in the ocean."
