Hurricane Lala threatens to make landfall on Hawaii's Big Island

In short: Hawaii's Big Island faces a possible direct hit from a category one hurricane. The tropical system was upgraded from a storm to a hurricane, with gusty winds and rains battering the region. What's next? International travel from two airports has been suspended, while residents have been told to brace for hurricane-force winds and rain. Hawaii's Big Island is bracing for its first possible direct hit from a hurricane in 155 years after the tropical system, Hurricane Lala, roared in the Pacific Ocean and battered the region with gusty winds, waves and rain. The US National Hurricane Center said Lala's maximum sustained winds reached 120 kilometres per hour, making it a category one hurricane. The National Weather Service also warned of dangerous surf and localised flooding. The Hawaii Department of Transportation said it was closing Hilo International Airport and would close Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole at 2pm Saturday local time (Sunday, 10am AEST). The department also closed the Hawaii Island, Maui County, and Kaua‘i commercial ports. The eye wall was forecast to move over or near Big Island's southern end by Saturday evening local time, lashing its worst winds at volcanic slopes thousands of feet above sea level. Governor Josh Green, noting rainfall of 5 centimetres an hour, said "people should be sheltering in place now". Forecasters said higher elevations on the island, dominated by the towering Mauna Kea volcano, could get as much as 63cm of rain. That could cause life-threatening mudslides in a mountainous area where people live off the grid in improvised housing. Earlier the governor called it an "enormous storm", capable of destructive flooding and even the possibility of wildfires kicked up by strong winds across the island chain. Residents prepare for Lala Electricity was knocked out for nearly 20 per cent of customers on the Big Island, according to PowerOutage.us. Resident Bobby Camara, 75, said he planned to "hunker down, cross my fingers, hope the lights don't go out" at a care home just outside Hilo. He said gas stations were busy as people sought fuel for chainsaws and vehicles. "I think stocking up is part of life over here … you learn to be self-reliant," Mr Camara said. Mike Caputo, who lives in Keaau, near the Big Island's east coast, said the main concern was flash flooding and fallen trees, especially albizia, a common tree. "They're not very sturdy, but they grow extremely large," said Mr Caputo, 50, a local fire captain. "They can make roads impassable. I made sure my trees were trimmed a few days ago." The Big Island was under a hurricane warning, and tropical storm warnings were issued for the islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Oahu, Kauai and Niihau. Hurricane hit Big Island more than a century ago A category three hurricane hit the north-east corner of the Big Island in 1871, according to research by a University of Hawaii atmospheric scientist. The latest forecast has Lala striking "very close to the southern tip of the Big Island", said Vanessa Almanza, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Honolulu. Shelters were opened, events were cancelled and ranchers were urged to leave their cattle in pastures, rather than structures that might collapse. "It doesn't take landfall to create destruction,"Ms Almanza said. The hurricane centre predicted about 20 to 30cm of total rainfall across Maui and the lower elevations of the Big Island, and 10 to 15cm across the island chain. Kauai, which is several islands north-west up the archipelago from the Big Island, is where Hurricane Iniki made landfall as a category four hurricane in 1992, an El Nino year like this one, when a warming of the Pacific near the equator increases Pacific hurricane activity and affects weather patterns across the globe. "It did $3 billion worth of damage. It destroyed thousands of homes, and it did kill six people," said Steven Businger, a University of Hawaii scientist. "We just can never know if a storm is going to turn." ABC/Wires