Hurricane Lala weakens to a tropical storm, but flooding persists in Hawaii

The devastating hurricane grazes the Big Island in Hawaii in the US, but avoids making landfall. Hurricane Lala has weakened from a Category 1 hurricane to a tropical storm after passing south of Hawaii, but meteorologists warned that hurricane-force gusts could still batter the islands with flash flooding and punishing winds. On Saturday, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued a hurricane warning for the Big Island, which has not suffered a direct hurricane landfall in 155 years. But as tropical storm winds soared west from Maui to Oahu and Kauai on Sunday, Hurricane Lala drifted past, edging the Hawaiian coast and just escaping primary impact zones. Still, pounding waves crashed against the shore of the Big Island.

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