LIHUE – Tropical Storm Darby is now more than 100 miles west of Lihue leaving little but dredges of humidity in its wake. In the past 48 hours, though, the storm dropped .91 inches of rain in Lihue, .84 inches
LIHUE – Tropical Storm Darby is now more than 100 miles west of Lihue leaving little but dredges of humidity in its wake.
In the past 48 hours, though, the storm dropped .91 inches of rain in Lihue, .84 inches in Princeville, 1.44 inches in Hanalei, and 1.77 inches in Wailua.
The National Weather service said Darby had been downgraded from a tropical storm to a tropical depression. Forecasters expect the storm to dissipate by Wednesday.
Currently, there is a brown water advisory in place for Hanalei due to stormwater runoff and the Kalalau Trail is still closed, according to the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources.
According to Chevy Chevalier, meteorologist with the National Weather Service on Oahu, some areas in the islands saw 10-12 inches.
Moderate to heavy rain was swamping parts of Oahu, and flooding was expected to persist in areas where drainage was poor, officials said.
On Monday, city and state officials were busy dealing with five other sewage spills across Oahu — with the largest being 42,000 gallons at the Kailua Wastewater Treatment Plant, said Watson Okubo, a supervisor with the state Department of Health’s Clean Water Branch.
Various brown water advisories were issued for coastal water off Oahu, the Big Island and Kauai from storm and flood runoff. Not all waters may be affected but officials advise staying out of the water if it’s brown.
Some damage occurred on the Big Island. A 70-foot (21.34-meter) vessel with 300 gallons (1,135.59 liters) of diesel aboard broke from its mooring and sank Sunday, sending debris onto shore. The boat’s owner is arranging cleanup.
Now that Darby is dissipating, Chevalier said there are only two storms in the East Pacific brewing — Hurricane Georgette and Tropical Storm Frank.
“Georgette is pretty far away. It’s expected to be a tropical storm by Tuesday night. It’s a slow mover and should become a depression before it even crosses into central pacific by Friday morning,” Chevalier said. “It doesn’t look like a threat.”
He said Frank, south of the Baja Peninsula, is even less of a threat.
“That tropical storm will be a depression in a couple of days, three days maybe, and it’s not close to us,” Chevalier said.
Other than that, there’s nothing else even bubbling up in the east Pacific.
Going into the weekend, Chevalier said the tradewinds are setting back up and Kauai can sit back and soak in “the normal tradewind type weather.”
He said even the waves have calmed down and the most recent surf forecast is showing four- to eight-foot waves (at the biggest) on Kauai throughout the week.
“It’s humid, you probably noticed that today (Monday), and that’s still moisture in place for Darby,” Chevalier said, “but those drier tradewinds are setting up for the rest of the week.”
•••
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
