Oahu calling - in the path of hurricanes

I was in Hawaii to convene and chair a workshop on marine debris. As the preceding blogs show, I  arrived a couple of days early to acclimatize and take a look around, but what I did not expect was to find that two hurricanes were tracking straight towards the islands!

Tuesday 5-8-2014 Headline local paper

The last hurricane to make land-fall in the Hawaii was in 1992 and it caused widespread devastation. The islands are hit by tropical storms on a more regular basis but these are lesser events featuring strong winds and heavy rainfall but typically significantly less damage to property or threat to life. Anyway, a day or so into my visit, local TV started to feature Hurricane Iselle (at that point a grade 4 hurricane - 5 being the highest grade) and the weather authorities showed her predicted track pointing firmly towards the islands. That track was maintained over the following days and then we started to hear that following immediately behind her was coming tropical storm Julio on much the same trajectory. As the days passed, Iselle lost some power as the cooler waters she was moving westwards over slowed her - although she maintained the classic hurricane configuration and status (now grade 1) with a mass of cloud circling around an eye at the centre - but, conversely, Julio gained power and so also became a hurricane. So, pretty quickly the situation developed where the Hawaiian Islands were being threatened by the  unprecedented likely arrival of two hurricanes only three days apart

As we got on with our workshop, whist keeping an eye on the news and weather reports, the authorities on the islands started their preparations for Iselle and Julio's arrivals. Shelters were opened and everyone told to expect major disruption, including damaging winds, flooding, coastal inundation, power-outages and subsequently to stock up on supplies, including food and water (and food for their pets). Details of what should be in emergency kits were published, including torches, radios, duct tape and medical kits. Shops were soon reporting that they were running out of certain goods including water.

Come Friday, when the first hurricane was due to hit, there was an strange quiet on the island of Oahu was I was (in the western part of the city of Honolulu). The city was basically shut down. The bus service was taken off the roads, apart from the buses taking people to the storm shelters and tourists and other visitors were advised to stay in their accommodation. Many flights to and from the islands - currently packed with tens of thousands of tourists - were cancelled.

Dark skies over Honolulu - view from my hotel room  on Friday morning - note all the buses parked up in the left corner of view

The Hawaii Islands run in a chain roughly west to east in a line with 'Big Island' at the eastern end and TV reports showed that Iselle hit Big Island square-on in the early hours of Friday. A storm surge came in first pushing the sea high up shore, then heavy rain, some flooding and high-winds followed. A lightening strike apparently caused an emergency at the local geothermal plant causing some kind of release of noxious gas.Households nearby were told to stay in and the release was soon staunched.

But then it seems that the two huge mountains of Big Island - like some mythical guardians for the rest of the island chain - effectively blocked the hurricane. It could not pass over them and the storm lost energy and broke up. Some hours later, when the remnants of the storm system reach us in Honolulu in the late morning, the skies darkened, the palm trees fringing the streets bowed to some gusty winds and rain certainly fell; but the storm had nothing like the power it might have had. We were lucky, and by the afternoon tourists and others were venturing out on the streets again and businesses were re-opening.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Julio due to arrive on Sunday had started to move onto a track that would take it north of the islands, although people were asked to continue to be prepared for this hurricane to impact too if its course changed.

Hawaiian TV report on Hurricane Julio (the islands are to the left below the hurricane symbol)

Fortunately - as we now know -  it has stayed north and has had little reported impact.

Headline - Saturday 9-8-2014

I flew out on schedule on Saturday and arrived back in the UK on Sunday... to find the UK being buffeted by the remains of yet another hurricane - Bertha which had come across the UK from the Atlantic, causing heavy rains and strong winds here!