NASA satellite image of Hurricanes Iselle & Julio
On the evening of Thursday 8th August, Hawaii is in a state of emergency, bracing itself for Iselle, the first hurricane to hit the islands since Hurricane Iniki destroyed over 1400 homes and killed six people back in 1992. As if that is not bad enough, a second even stronger Hurricane named Julio, is following close behind.
Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie said the state is prepared for the back-to-back storms, noting the National Guard is at the ready and state and local governments were closing offices, schools and transit services across Hawaii. Emergency shelters also are being opened across the state.
Hurricane Iselle is expected to bring heavy rain, winds up to 85mph and flash floods. This is a category 1 Hurricane, which is the lowest category, but this does have the potential to cause some significant disruption, and may even bring danger to life. Hewaii is used to changeable weather, but Hurricanes are extremely rare here.
There is some hope that Iselle will loose some of it's power whilst passing over the Big island, and before it hits Uahu and Maui.
Billy Kenoi warned Islanders and tourists to take this very seriously, he said that when dealing with high winds, lots of rain and high surf, for an island community, when you put all of those elements together, you get increasing unpredictability.