Still recovering from Hurricane Lala, Hawaii prepares for a possible weekend cyclone

HONOLULU (AP) — Communities still recovering from last weekend’s hurricane in Hawaii could get pounded again in coming days from another tropical system gaining strength over warm Pacific waters.

Hurricane Lala tore roofs off houses, uprooted trees, covered roads in mud and rock and left many households without electricity. With thousands of homes and businesses still in the dark Thursday, forecasters warned another tropical cyclone is likely to form southeast of the islands shortly.

A depression moving west and northwest could become a tropical storm later Thursday and pass near or south of Hawaii’s Big Island during the weekend, according to the U.S Central Pacific Hurricane Center. That system could dump up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain across the Big Island and trigger life-threatening flooding, mudslides and rip currents, the hurricane center added.

Forecasters said the disturbance was located about 960 miles (1,545 kilometers) east-southeast of Hilo, Hawaii. But while it is expected to continue strengthening into the weekend, it was still too soon to forecast the exact path and the magnitude of the impacts.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green and other state officials planned a news conference Thursday afternoon to discuss the approaching tropical system as well as the ongoing recovery efforts from Lala, which has been blamed for two deaths in the state.

Residents found the body of a man in his 60s in a pasture Tuesday, a day after authorities recovered the body of May Doi, 93, whom neighbors said was trying to escape from floodwaters in her home. Doi was a beloved former kindergarten teacher who taught generations of residents in a small town on Hawaii’s Big Island.

“She taught grandkids of her students,” said ʻĀina Akamu, a former student of Doi’s who is now a vice principal at a local school. “She was a fixture in this community.”

Lala’s heaviest recorded rainfall, 43.54 inches (1.1 meters), occurred on the northeast coast of the Big Island, the National Weather Service said. Dozens of homes were washed from foundations, bridges were damaged and about 13,200 customers on the Big Island remained without power Thursday.

Efforts to restore power in the hard-hit areas of the Big Island could take at least two weeks, the Hawaiian Electric utility said.

Lala is the first major hurricane of 2026 in the Central Pacific Ocean. Now well west of Hawaii’s main islands, Lala had top sustained winds of 100 mph (155 kph) on Thursday and was spreading hurricane conditions across parts of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument — a remote area at the northwestern edge of the Hawaiian Archipelago. The first impacts were being felt between Lisianski Island and Maro Reef, authorities said.

Forecasters said Lala would continue to cross waters of the marine national monument for a few days and remain at hurricane strength through the weekend.

Even in that vast and remote area, people were seeking safety. A charter boat carrying a 16-person crew dedicated to removing marine plastics and abandoned fishing nets from the shores of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands got out of Lala’s projected path this week.

Kevin O’Brien, president of the nonprofit Papahanaumokuakea Marine Debris Project, said the vessel left Lisianski Island on Monday and headed 350 miles (565 kilometers) out to sea.

“We were ready for it,” O’Brien said. “We keep on our toes out here during hurricane season.”

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Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press writer John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, contributed to this report.