LIHUE — Weather experts suggest keeping an eye out for thunderstorms and weather warnings today. But the flash flood watch that continued over the rest of the state hadn’t been extended to Kauai late Thursday. “Once we see how things
LIHUE — Weather experts suggest keeping an eye out for thunderstorms and weather warnings today.
But the flash flood watch that continued over the rest of the state hadn’t been extended to Kauai late Thursday.
“Once we see how things evolve over the next 6-12 hours, we may decide we need to extend (the flash flood watch) farther west,” said Robert Ballard, meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
This weather system doesn’t carry a lot of wind with it, Ballard said, which is why it’s flooding the islands with heavy rainfall.
Maui County, for instance, has received about 15 inches at Puu Kukui over the past three days, and Hana Airport received 10 inches, according to the National Weather Service’s Thursday reports.
The Big Island received just over seven inches in the three-day period, and Oahu saw nearly 10 inches.
“They’ve had a lot of rain there and that’s why they’ve had all the damage. The flooding and the landslides (are) washing out the roads,” Ballard said. “(Kauai hasn’t) had the rain which has already saturated the ground, so it’ll be tougher to get flooding.”
It is possible, though, with the amount of rain the storm is dumping on the rest of the state.
“During the weekend, conditions would be getting a little better. As the whole weather system moves westward, it’ll be weakening,” Ballard said. “We’re not sure how much of the action Kauai is going to see.”
