This season’s first hurricane in the Central Pacific skirted northern Hawaii on Sunday night, sparing the island chain the worst effects of the storm.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami said Hurricane Douglas is still accumulating maximum sustained winds of 90 mph, a Category 1 storm, and is moving west-northwest at 16 mph. The storm is about 50 miles north of Lihue, Hawaii.
“It just scratched the Hawaiian islands, they are so lucky they didn’t have the worst rain and wind and storm surge,” said Janice Dean, senior meteorologist at Fox News on “Fox & Friends.”
HURRICANE DOUGLAS THREATENS THE HAWAII COAST, THREATENING HEAVY RAIN, STRONG WINDS
As the storm recedes from the Hawaiian Islands, Douglas’ last band of rain will leave Kauai Island late Monday morning.
The forecast for Hurricane Douglas on Monday, July 27, 2020.
(Fox News)
Hurricane warnings continue to apply there, where Douglas continues to bring strong winds, heavy rains, flash floods, storm surges, and dangerous waves.
The NHC said Douglas actually escalated slightly as he moved north from Kauai.
Hurricane Douglas skirted the Hawaiian Islands on Sunday, and the worst effects of the storm were kept away from the islands.
(Fox News)
The core of the system has just lost the islands without touching land.
“We hope we dodged a bullet,” Hawaii Gov. David Ige told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Sunday night. “We were lucky not to have major floods or major dislocations.”
Hurricane Douglas seen in satellite images on Monday, July 27, 2020.
(Fox News)
When the storm passed through the Hawaiian Islands on Sunday, heavy rains and gusts of wind hit Maui, knocking down a small tree on the Hana Highway.
Duke Stevens, who lives in Hana, on the eastern edge of Maui, told the Associated Press that there was no wind by Sunday afternoon and that the rain had stopped.
“I’ve seen a lot worse.” Said Stevens, who has lived on Maui since 1987.
A police officer from the Honolulu Police Department inspects the sand and debris washed up on a closed part of the Kamehameha Expressway on Sunday, July 26, 2020, in Kaaawa, Hawaii.
(AP Photo / Eugene Tanner)
On Oahu, home to the state’s largest city, Honolulu, light rains fell and windy winds shook the trees.
The storm surge generated by Douglas caused sand and debris to land on a two-lane coastal highway.
Sand and debris remain on the Kamehameha Expressway from the high waves generated by Hurricane Douglas on Sunday, July 26, 2020, in Hauula, Hawaii.
(AP Photo / Eugene Tanner)
Other highways on Oahu were also closed at various points due to storm debris, KHON2 reported.
HURRICANE DOUGLAS LOWS IN HAWAII As the islands prepare for strong winds, rain and storm surge
The Hawaii Department of Transportation shared a video of flooding on a section of Route 450 in Molokai when the storm passed.
Even in dangerous ocean conditions, surfers rode waves and residents took selfies at an ocean-side lookout.
Surfers take big waves generated by Hurricane Douglas at Laie Beach Park on Sunday, July 26, 2020 in Laie, Hawaii.
(AP Photo / Eugene Tanner)
Strong waves and waves for the Hawaiian Islands will continue for the next few days.
A surfer faces a wave generated by Hurricane Douglas at Laie Beach Park on Sunday, July 26, 2020, in Laie, Hawaii.
(AP Photo / Eugene Tanner)
Antonia Hall, from Kihei in western Maui, said the storm prevented her area, although she and others were prepared for the worst.
“Maui has dodged so many hurricanes,” he said. “This is something we went through here.”
State officials preparing for the worst had opened shelters before the storm.
The Keo family helped the Aubrey family with sandbags to prepare for Hurricane Douglas in Hauula, Hawaii, on Sunday July 26, 2020.
(Cindy Ellen Russell / Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP)
About 300 people were evacuated to the Hawaii Convention Center, on the outskirts of Waikiki. In Maui, 22 people were in five shelters around the island.
Evacuees await assessment before entering the Hawaii Convention Center, an American Red Cross shelter established before Hurricane Douglas, on Sunday, July 26, 2020 in Honolulu.
(Jamm Aquino / Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP)
Evacuees were asked to bring masks and hand sanitizer along with the usual emergency supplies of food and water. People were also required to cover their faces to be admitted and were to wear them unless they ate, drank, or slept.
CLICK HERE TO GET MORE CLIMATE COVERAGE FROM FOX NEWS
Forecasters said Douglas could have been much worse if his trajectory had been 20-30 miles south.
The hurricane’s trajectory placed the island chain near the storm’s southwest quadrant, which is often less destructive than the northeast and right side of a hurricane’s eye, according to Eric Lau, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu.
“We were really playing with a very fine line, a very fine line between what we have experienced today compared to what we might have experienced,” he told the AP.
Janice Dean, Brandon Noriega and The Fox News Associated Press contributed to this report.
