Tropical Storm Moke forms on track to bring heavy rain and winds to Hawaii

HONOLULU (AP) — Tropical Storm Moke formed Friday in the Pacific Ocean, the National Hurricane Center said, on track to bring another round of heavy rain and wind to Hawaii as residents are still recovering from Hurricane Lala.

Moke was located about 595 miles (960 kilometers) southeast of Hilo and was moving west-northwest at 12 mph (19 kph). Maximum sustained winds were around 45 mph (75 kph), according to an advisory from the Miami-based hurricane center.

Like with Hurricane Lala, the Big Island is again expected to bear the brunt of the storm. It battered Hawaii last weekend without making landfall, downing trees and leaving roads covered in mud and rocks.

Rain and heavy winds from Moke are expected to hit the Big Island late Saturday, with the storm continuing to move west across the islands through early Tuesday, said Casey Oswant, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu.

“There will still be impacts, especially to the windward and southeast sides of the Big Island, but it will probably be a little bit more limited than what we saw with Lala,” she said.

The northeast coast of the Big Island saw the heaviest rainfall from Lala, at 43.54 inches (1.1 meters), according to the weather service. The resulting flooding swept dozens of homes from their foundations and damaged roads and bridges. About 11,630 customers on the Big Island remained without power Friday, according to poweroutage.us.

Rainfall predictions for this weekend for the southeast and windward sides of the Big Island were 5 to 10 inches (13 to 25 centimeters) of rain, with isolated amounts up to 15 inches (38 centimeters), Oswant said. Across the rest of the island chain, 1 to 2 inches (2 to 5 centimeters) of rain was expected to fall, though parts of east Maui could see up to 4 inches (10 centimeters), she said.

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There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect Friday evening, but people were urged to closely monitor the storm’s progress. The rainfall has the potential to cause dangerous rip currents, life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in steep areas and places where the ground remains saturated in Lala’s wake, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green and other state officials held a news conference Thursday afternoon to update Lala recovery progress and urge people to prepare for the next storm.

Officials urged people low on emergency supplies to restock up to 14 days of food, medicine and other essentials and closely monitor the storm’s progress.

“There’s definitely tension in the air” at the thought of more rain in communities that floodwaters turned into rivers, said Tiffany Edwards Hunt, a teacher living in Keaau, on the east side of the Big Island. “There were some areas that were completely washed out.”

The Hawaiian Electric utility said it expects nearly all affected customers on the Big Island to have power restored, except for certain remote and severely damaged areas.