Hawaii News

Hawaiʻi is bracing for Hurricane Lowell, with Maui Now reporting the storm continues westward as a Category 4 hurricane and Kauaʻi Now saying Lowell has intensified into a Category 5 hurricane. Gov. Josh Green has declared a State of Emergency and is pre-positioning resources, while county and utility officials on Maui and Kauaʻi are urging residents to prepare and monitor forecasts. The material does not give a single unified impact forecast, but it consistently shows emergency planning across the islands as the storm tracks west.

Weather concerns are overlapping with recovery from earlier storms. On the Big Island, more than 850 Kaʻū students are returning to in-person learning after Hurricane Lala, and water service has been restored to most customers in the Nā‘ālehu-Wai‘ōhinu area. Maui Now also reports that 850 Kaʻū students returned to school following Lala, underscoring how the storm’s effects are still being felt in the south part of Hawaiʻi Island. At the same time, the state is dealing with a positive dengue virus detection in a wastewater sample from Hawaiʻi County, a public health development that appears in both Maui Now and the statewide material.

Several local infrastructure and public-safety issues are also unfolding. On Hawaiʻi Island, the runway at Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keāhole reopened after a crack forced a temporary suspension, while Waipiʻo Valley Road remains under a traffic emergency zone through November. Authorities are also investigating the discovery of unidentified human remains along the Waipiʻo Valley shoreline. On Kauaʻi, authorities are asking for help identifying a man found dead along the Kapaʻa shoreline, and the county is preparing for lane closures and road work in Kapaʻa and on Halekō Road.

Maui’s local agenda includes recovery and land-use decisions. Mayor Richard Bissen is pressing USPS to preserve home mail delivery for Lahaina residents rebuilding after the wildfire, and a Maui County Council committee has voted 5-4 on sea-level-rise criteria tied to apartment rezoning in new hotel districts. Maui also saw a guilty plea in a bank robbery case, while the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi endorsed Bissen for reelection.