Rain from Lane Keeps Fallin...

Hanalei Bay August 24, 2018

Rain was heavy last night and early this morning, lingering tropical moisture stirred up by Hurricane Lane. Islanders here on Kauai were wearing smiles of relief.  Lane, at one point a category-5 hurricane, threatened their homes and livelihood but turned southwest just in the nick of time.

"We had our windows boarded and were ready," said Leonard the plumber who lives in the community of Lawai. He was inside that same house, which belonged to his grandfather, when Iniki stormed the island in 1992. "The roof blew off," he said. 

The island came to a standstill on Friday as just about everything closed down except gas stations, the hardware store and super market. Government employees were told to stay home with their families.

"You have to have your priorities," says Leonard. "I'm not going to work in this situation. The company may not be here tomorrow but my family will."

The family tradition is deep here on Kauai, although things are changing. Leonard's 24-year-old son moved to Oregon for college and job opportunities on the mainland, as many children of islanders must do.His son had never experienced a hurricane while growing up on Kauai. The islands have been lucky. The combination of high mountains on the Big Island and Maui and the northwesterly Tradewinds have helped deflect and degrade Pacific hurricanes.

But as one old-timer who has resided on Kauai since the early '60s noted: "You never know."

The state of Hawaii to date has received more than 50 inches of rain from Hurricane Lane. That is the third highest volume of rain from a cyclone ever recorded. Most of the rain has fallen on the Big Island.

More rain, heavy at times, is forecast for today, 30-percent chance tomorrow. The residue of slow-moving Lane is still with us.