Hawaii Island was pummeled with heavy rains and powerful waves overnight, but residents woke to blue skies and little damage after Madeline skirted the island. Forecasters downgraded Madeline from a hurricane to a tropical storm as it veered past Hawaii’s.
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“So, really grateful for this respite today. I saw the sun this morning when I was driving into work”, Kanani Aton, a spokeswoman for the Hawaii County civil defence agency, said.
At 5 a.m. HST Thursday (Sep 1), the center of Tropical Storm Madeline was located about 180 miles (290 km) south-southwest of South Point, Hawaii.
Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi said Thursday that there were no reports of damages to schools.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Lester was about 1,000 miles from Hawaii and expected to drop to a tropical storm by Sunday.
The National Weather Service has cancelled the Tropical Storm Warning for Madeline as it has passed to the south of Hawai’i Island.
This graphic shows the projected path and intensity of Hurricane Lester as of 11 a.m.
“This general motion is expected to continue tonight with a gradual turn toward the west on Thursday and Friday”, it predicted.
On Aug. 31 at 6:50 p.m. EDT (22:50 UTC) the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite provided a visible image of Tropical Storm Madeline approaching Hawaii. The first rains and heavy winds are expected to hit the islands on Friday night.
It’s worth noting that President Barack Obama was in Hawaii this week to address the 2016 Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders. At the last advisory to be issued by the National Hurricane Center, the storm was about 405 miles east-northeast of Cape Hatteras, NC, with winds of 30 mph, moving northeast at 15 mph.
Officials also decided that public institutions should be closed at noon on Friday. “We’ll probably keep it up till Sunday, waiting for the second one to come through”, said supervisor Renee Balanga. However, the Commander in Chief was scheduled to depart Honolulu for Midway Atoll prior to Lester’s potential arrival.
Gov. David Ige has issued an emergency proclamation for both storms, allowing the state to quickly spend money. They say that because the islands are small, they are exposed to the storm, which can severely affect them.
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A tropical storm warning was extended along the Atlantic coast from Flagler/Volusia counties, FL, to Surf City, NC, and along the Gulf from Englewood to Suwannee River, FL and west of Mexico Beach, FL, to the Walton/Bay county line.
