Hurricane Nolo approaches Hawaii's Big Island with flash flood threat

San Juanico braces for Hurricane Polo with limited infrastructure

Hurricane Nolo was churning south of Hawaii’s Big Island on Saturday with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph, bringing threats of flash floods and extreme surf to islands still recovering from August’s Hurricane Lala.

The storm’s center was about 145 miles south of Hawaii’s southernmost point on Saturday and could strengthen through the weekend into what the National Hurricane Center called “a potentially life-threatening and catastrophic storm.” Forecasters warned of flooding and mudslides, with parts of the Big Island expected to see rainfall totals up to 20 inches. Heavy rainfall also was expected on Hawaii’s other islands.

“Don’t venture out if you don’t have to into the dangerous flooding environment, but also high winds. We can have trees and power lines down,” National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said Friday.

The Big Island is still recovering from Hurricane Lala, which produced heavy rain and winds strong enough to sweep about 100 homes off their foundations in August. The humanitarian nonprofit Community Organized Relief Effort (Core) and other partners spent the week packing and shipping supplies such as camp stoves and hygiene products by air cargo from Oahu to the Big Island for a community relief hub that has been active since Lala.

President Donald Trump on Friday approved a federal emergency declaration for Hawaii, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate assistance from across the federal government and provide funding support for emergency measures. Hawaii’s governor issued an emergency proclamation, activating hundreds of Hawaii National Guard members.

Hawaii County officials on the Big Island urged residents in flood-prone areas to consider taking refuge at shelters being set up. State officials told residents to put together emergency kits in advance of the storm.

Hawaiian Electric, the state’s primary utility, said crews that had been helping restore power in Kauai after this month’s Hurricane Lowell returned to Oahu, Maui and the Big Island in preparation for the storm.

Mexico is simultaneously under threat from Hurricane Polo, which was producing maximum sustained winds of 155 mph on Saturday as it headed toward the Baja California peninsula after bringing storm conditions to the southwestern coast. Polo is expected to gradually weaken before making landfall Monday.

One town in Polo’s projected path is San Juanico, a small fishing community on Baja’s Pacific coast. Gloriely Robles Meza, a manager at a small hotel there, said residents feel “left to brace themselves for the storm without the help of authorities.”

“Our people are concerned about this event,” Robles Meza said. “We haven’t faced such a worrying situation in many years.”

The town has only had full-time electricity for a couple of years, and it still experiences frequent outages. Without power, residents can’t refrigerate food or pump water. The closest gas station is so far away that fuel is stored and sold from tanks in the town and frequently runs out if there is high demand.

“We must prepare on our own, each of us protecting our homes and belongings,” Robles Meza said, adding that she wished officials would pre-position heavy machinery for clearing roads, along with emergency generators. For now, the only plan is to convert the local elementary school into a shelter. “While this is important, we also have other impacts to consider,” she said, such as what the town would do if cut off from help.

San Juanico has experienced late summer storms, but Polo feels different, said Jeffrey Westman, an American who was first drawn to the town’s world-class surf break 40 years ago and owns a property there. “During the last couple of years, the storms have felt big and strong and scary,” said Westman, 63, who is in Europe but concerned for locals in San Juanico, particularly about their ability to receive food deliveries or reach larger grocery stores if road access is cut off.

Washed-out roads could also block access to the closest medical facility, about 80 minutes away in Ciudad Constitución.

Westman said he is hopeful Polo behaves like past storms and weakens before reaching the Baja coastline. “A lot of times they do start petering out” as they approach, he said. “I’m hoping that’s the case.”