Historic floods drenched Hawaii into the weekend, leaving behind an estimated $1 billion in damages with no plans yet for Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster response.
While Hawaiian residents were evacuated during the floods, several states in the continental Southwest reeled from a record-breaking, early heat wave.
Hawaii, meanwhile, saw what Gov. Josh Green called the state’s worst flooding since 2004.
“This storm could cost over $1 billion of damage,” Green told reporters during a press conference Friday.
Rain pounded the Hawaiian Islands through the weekend on the tail end of two back-to-back storms that started March 10. Record rainfall hit the state day-after-day in some areas, with up to 4 feet of rain during the storm’s first week recorded in parts of Maui, according to the National Weather Service.
The downpour came from two Kona Low storms, a form of cyclone in the Pacific Ocean. The first occurred from March 10-15, and the second started March 18 and was expected to fully clear the Hawaiian islands by the end of Monday.
“It can essentially put the islands in a period of very active weather – very heavy rain for a week at a time,” Matthew Foster, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Honolulu, told The Center Square on Monday. “And the fact that we had two of them back-to-back is a little unusual.”
Flash flood warnings and flood watches were still in effect across the big island of Hawaii Monday afternoon. Flood advisories remained active for the North Shore of Oahu and the island of Maui.
Foster said the human impact was largest on Oahu, the island known for Honolulu. It’s where much of the state’s population lives.
“In terms of impacting towns, people and having the evacuation notice for the possible dam break … Oahu would have been the most impacted,” said Foster. “But in terms of rain amounts, the south side of Maui and the south side of the big island [Hawaii] actually received more rain.”
Over 230 rescues had occurred across the state as of Sunday, according to Gov. Green. No deaths have been reported.
In Oahu, over 5,500 residents were forced to evacuate from a near-overflow of the 120-year-old Wahiawā dam, according to the state government. Water levels at the dam have fallen since Sunday, and the evacuation orders have been lifted, leading residents to return home to mud-flooded homes.
FEMA has not said if it would send emergency supplies or personnel to help Hawaiian residents recover, as it would typically for a natural disaster in the U.S.
While Green said the White House had reached out to offer support, President Donald Trump had not publicly commented on the floods as of Monday afternoon.
FEMA falls under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which is currently impacted by the partial government funding shutdown. Hawaii’s regional FEMA office did not return a call from The Center Square. Instead, the office sent an automatic email that it may not be able to reply for comment at this time, “due to the lapse in federal government funding.”
On the U.S. mainland, the Southwest is still recovering from an unusually early heat wave.
While only the Los Angeles area had an active heat warning as of Monday, states across the region were expected to continue to beat records across the week.
Last week’s heat wave saw several cities reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit at the earliest point in the year in recorded history, including Las Vegas, which had never previously recorded 100 as early as March.
“Coming out of this historic heat, we’re still actually going to stay warm,” Sean Benedict, the National Weather Service’s lead meteorologist in Phoenix, told The Center Square. “There’s no significant system to cool us down, so we’re still going to be seeing high temperatures pushing 20 degrees above normal for this time of year, and that’s going to continue through the entire week.”
Benedict said the heat wave had been caused by unusually high pressure air moving into the region, which has now cooled down, but a lack of other weather means the heat will remain for the time being.
“It’s not until the weekend and into early next week when we start to see the pattern shift a little bit more and we get more cloud cover, pulling some moisture up in here,” said Benedict. “Potentially even some rain showers.”
Residents across the Southwest have been warned since last week to avoid direct sun, seek air-conditioned rooms when possible and hydrate well, including with extra electrolytes such as in sports drinks. But Benedict said this early summer stint could still be enjoyed.
“ The mornings are still fairly cool even though they themselves are well above normal … Take advantage of the mornings when it is cool,” said Benedict. “But be prepared for it to get hot quickly and make sure you’re prepared for that.”
