Hurricane Hone Sweeps Past Hawaii, Dumping Enough Rain To Ease Wildfire Fears

HONOLULU (AP) — Hurricane Hone passed just south of Hawaii on Sunday, dumping so much rain that the National Weather Service called off its red flag warnings that strong winds could lead to wildfires on the drier sides of the islands.

Meanwhile, the eastern Pacific saw a new threat emerge as Tropical Storm Hector formed, packing top sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph). There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect as Hector churned far out at sea, the National Hurricane Center said.

Hone (pronounced hoe-NEH) had top winds of 85 mph (140 kph) Sunday morning as it swirled slowly past the Big Island, centered about 45 miles (72 kilometers) off its southernmost point, according to Jon Jelsema, a senior forecaster at the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. He said tropical storm force winds were blowing across the island’s southeast-facing slopes, carrying up to a foot (30 centimeters) or more of rain.

Floods closed Highway 11 between Kona and Hilo, and a higher-altitude alternative, the Cane Road, was closed by flooding as well, isolating properties like the Aikane Plantation Coffee Co. outside Pahala, where owner Phil Becker said his 10-inch (25-centimeter) rain gauge overflowed in the deluge.

“We’ve got quite a lot of flood damage, the gulches are running full speed ahead and they’re overflowing the bridges, so we’re trapped down here, we can’t get in or out,” Becker said Sunday.

Becker said his plantation is off the grid, powered with batteries charged by solar electricity, and his family is safe, so they have no reason to evacuate. The weather may even prove beneficial: “We’ve been in a drought situation so the coffee is probably loving all this rain,” he said.

Hurricane Gilma, meanwhile, weakened to a still-major