The sixth named storm of the 2007 Eastern
Pacific basin, Hurricane Flossie, is heading for the Big Island of
Hawaii as a Category 4 storm. The storm is expected to begin
impacting the island by Tuesday afternoon.
Flossie currently
has sustained winds of 140 mph and is about 450 miles southeast of
Hilo, Hawaii, or 670 miles southeast of Honolulu.
The Central Pacific
Hurricane Center, part of the National Weather Service based in
Honolulu, has issued a hurricane watch for the Big Island; the
watch is expected to be upgraded to a warning in the next 24
hours.
The CPHC has
forecasted a slight weakening of the storm, which is on a path that
could take it directly over the Big Island late Tuesday or early
Wednesday.
While the "exact
path and intensity of the storm is uncertain at this time,"
according to the CPHC, hurricane-force winds are expected beginning
Tuesday night.
The hurricane watch
advised of rising surf tonight and Tuesday, with 10- to 15-foot
waves off the south coast of Hawaii and eight- to 12-foot waves off
the east coast. Rain is expected to begin Tuesday afternoon, with
five to 10 inches of rain expected with 10 or more inches
locally.
The last time a
hurricane made landfall in Hawaii was in September 1992 when
Hurricane Iniki, a Category 4 storm, passed directly over the
island of Kauai. The storm caused at least $1.8 billion in damages
across the state.
Iniki hit just
weeks after Hurricane Andrew, a category 5 storm, devastated south
Florida.
Prior to Iniki,
only two other hurricanes directly impacted Hawaii, both on Kauai.
Hurricane Dot, the first hurricane to make landfall in Hawaii, hit
as a Category 1 storm in August 1959; Hurricane Iwa, also a
Category 1 storm, passed just 25 miles off Kauai in November
1982.
In the Atlantic
basin, meanwhile, hurricane hunters are watching a tropical
depression that formed off the coast of Africa and is heading
toward the Windward Islands in the Caribbean. The depression, if
named, would become Dean.
To
contact TravelWeekly.com's managing editor Kimberly Scholz, send
e-mail to [email protected].