Another tropical storm is approaching Hawaii’s Big Island after Hurricane Lara swept through last week. As of 5 a.m. Hawaii time on August 23, Tropical Storm Moke was moving west at 12 mph about 310 miles south of Hilo, with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph.
Areas Affected
According to the National Hurricane Center, Moke was expected to track west-northwest across waters south of the Big Island and into the distant waters south of the Hawaiian Islands. Although it was expected to avoid a direct landfall, the Big Island was forecast to receive 5 to 10 inches of rain, with up to 15 inches in some areas, while eastern Maui was expected to receive 3 to 6 inches. Moke was expected to weaken into a tropical depression around Wednesday. Earlier, Lara brought more than 30 inches of rain to mountainous areas of the Big Island, damaged about 100 homes, claimed the life of a woman in her 90s in rushing floodwaters, and left more than 217,000 households without power.
What RV Travelers Need to Know
If you were planning tent camping or vehicle camping on the Big Island or Maui, check updates from the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA) and the National Hurricane Center again before leaving. Ground conditions remain weakened in areas hit by Lara, and Moke’s rain could trigger renewed landslides and flash flooding. Because some areas were still without restored power, bring your own lighting and communication equipment, such as a generator and flashlights, and avoid campsites in valleys or along rivers for the time being.
Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA / Original photo. CC BY-SA 2.0. Photo date: 2010-04-15 13:47. Resized and compressed for display.
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