Weather

Hurricane Lala Batters Hawaii's Big Island, 1 Dead

Is Hurricane Lala proof that climate change is redefining Pacific storm seasons or an event too complex to blame on human emissions?

AUG 16·Updated AUG 17

Hurricane Lala Batters Hawaii's Big Island, 1 Dead

Story

Above: A vehicle approaches a downed utility pole dangling above Mamalahoa Highway in Hawaii on Aug. 15. Image credit: Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle/Getty Images

The Facts

Hurricane Lala passed Hawaii's Big Island on Saturday without making landfall, though at least one person died in a storm-related car accident in the South Point area. Gov. Josh Green confirmed the fatality Saturday evening.
Daily Mail
Independent
Governor Josh Green
Lala strengthened from a tropical storm into a Category 1 hurricane early Saturday, with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph. The storm brought heavy rain, flooded roads and turned rivers into raging torrents across the Big Island.
New York Post
Guardian
Mario Nawfal on X
More than 60,000 residents lost power, 19 buildings lost their roofs and 190 flights were delayed. On the Hamakua Coast, fallen trees knocked down multiple poles across a 42-mile span of transmission lines.
New York Post
Daily Mail
The National Hurricane Center warned that higher elevations on the Big Island, dominated by Mauna Kea volcano, could receive up to 25 inches of rain, raising the risk of life-threatening mudslides in areas with improvised housing.
The Globe and Mail
Guardian
KanekoaTheGreat on X
Several homes in the Ka'u District were swept off their foundations during Saturday night flash flooding. National Guard vehicles and a Coast Guard helicopter were deployed to evacuate residents left stranded by floodwaters.
Daily Mail
NBC
Fox Weather on Youtube
The last hurricane to make landfall on the Hawaiian Islands was Hurricane Iniki in 1992, a Category 4 storm that struck Kauai, caused $3 billion in damage, destroyed thousands of homes and killed six people.
The Globe and Mail
Independent

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The Spin

Climate-concerned narrative

Hurricane Lala hitting Hawaii's Big Island marks a historic shift — warmer ocean temperatures fueled by El Niño and climate change kept this storm alive far longer than normal. Three of the five named storms to make landfall in Hawaii over the last 67 years have hit in just the last decade. Warmer oceans mean stronger storms, and Hawaii needs to prepare for this becoming the new normal.

Ezequiel Aguilar on X

Derek Ortt on X

Honolulu Civil Beat

Climate-skeptic narrative

Blaming Lala purely on human CO₂ emissions ignores the staggering complexity of natural climate systems. Land and ocean sinks absorb roughly half of all human emissions annually, and decades of NASA satellite data show global greening driven by CO₂ fertilization. Climate models built on sparse point-source data and administrative accounting aren't solid enough to pin one storm on human activity.