(Bloomberg) — Heavy rains have been dragged through Hawaii’s “Kona low” for the second time in two weeks, prompting residents to flee their homes and closing roads across the island chain.
Evacuations were ordered in parts of Waialua and Haleiwa in northwest Oahu after flooding threatened a dam in the area, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said on its website. Roads across Oahu were closed due to flooding, according to the state Department of Transportation.
At least two feet of rain fell on Oahu. Hawaii Governor Josh Green closed government offices on Friday.
“With catastrophic flash flooding already affecting parts of Oahu, including evacuation orders on the North Shore and potential dam-related impacts, we are taking this situation extremely seriously,” Green said in a statement. “We urge everyone to heed all warnings, evacuate if ordered and stay out of flood waters as this storm continues through the weekend.”
On Oahu, the state’s most populous island, a flash flood alert was declared Friday for the first time since 2021. Flood watches and warnings are in effect throughout Saturday.
The heavy rains come less than a week after floods hit the island, adding to the disaster. The earlier Kona storm dumped 38.8 inches (98.5 centimeters) of rain on Puu Waawaa on Hawaii Island and 49.6 inches on Maui’s summit from March 10 to March 16, the National Weather Service said.
“There were two really big, impressive storm events in mid-March,” said Andrew Orrison, a forecaster at the U.S. Weather Forecast Center. “It just rained down there.
Orrison said low Kona storms are typical for this time of year and will form over south or southwest Hawaii, pumping deep tropical moisture over the islands. The slow-moving storms may persist, as the current round is doing, and bring days of heavy rain that will worsen as the fronts wind up the state’s volcanic mountains.
“If you’re going to have a big impact on precipitation totals, March is the time of year to do that,” Orrison said. Storms are forecast to taper off early next week, ushering in a period of dry weather for Hawaii, he said.
As the storm plays out in Hawaii, temperature records have been broken in the western half of the continental U.S., with at least 110 daily high temperatures either broken or tied, Orrison said. In addition, at least a dozen websites have posted their hottest March days on record.
Las Vegas hit a high of 97°F (36C) on Friday, breaking its old record for a 90F date set in 2004 and setting a new all-time high for the month, the National Weather Service said.
“Yesterday was a pretty amazing day,” Orrison said. “Some of these records go back a long way and show how impressive the heat wave is in the West, where temperatures are 20 to 40 degrees Celsius above normal.”
While the most intense heat will subside starting Monday, the above normal temperatures should continue into next week.
“It’s so off the charts in terms of magnitude, even when it comes down from its peak, it’s still anomalously hot,” Orrison said.
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