Lane’s Rains Topple Records, Inundate Parts of Big Island

Occupants of more than 20 homes on the eastern Big Island had to be evacuated because of flooding on Friday night, as reported by the Associated Press. Perhaps in part because the Hilo area is so experienced with heavy rain—it’s the wettest city in the United States—no injuries were reported despite widespread flooding across the downtown waterfront and in other parts of the Hilo area. Meanwhile, on the western cost of Maui, seven homes were destroyed and one woman was injured by a brush fire early Friday. Downslope winds on the dry side of Maui’s higher terrain may have exacerbated this blaze, along with two others that broke out on Friday morning along the same stretch of coastline.