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Hurricane Lala Lashes Hawaii's Big Island with Heavy Rain and Power Outages

morning · · thread: Severe Weather Alerts Issued for Argentina and Central United States

9 sources across 7 countries · 1 of them is linked to a state

Who reported this

  • G1 Brazil · Centre-left · Grupo Globo (Marinho family)
  • CNN Brasil Brazil · Centre · Rubens Menin (MRV)
  • BBC News United Kingdom · Centre · Public · Licence fee, royal charter
  • Reuters United Kingdom · Centre · Thomson Reuters Corporation
  • Le Monde France · Centre-left · Fonds pour l'independance de la presse
  • Der Spiegel Germany · Centre-left · ~50% staff-owned
  • Philippine Daily Inquirer Philippines · Centre · Prieto family
  • Al Jazeera Qatar · Centre-left · State-affiliated · Qatari government funded
  • CNN United States · Centre-left · Warner Bros. Discovery

What the colours mean

  • Left
  • Centre-left
  • Centre
  • Centre-right
  • Right
  • A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.

Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.

Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.

The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.

Hurricane Lala strengthened into a Category 1 storm on Saturday, bringing sustained winds of 120 kilometers per hour and heavy rainfall to Hawaii. The storm's eyewall brushed the southern portion of the Big Island, leading to widespread power outages and significant infrastructure disruptions. Reports indicate that over 70 percent of Hawaii County lost power, with some sources estimating that between 20,000 and 60,000 customers were affected. Local officials reported that landslides have cut off some roads and that the Wailuku River has risen significantly, turning the bay red with sediment.

Governor Josh Green declared a state of emergency on Thursday to ensure resources were available for the state. The Hawaii Department of Transportation closed the Hilo International Airport and the Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport, as well as commercial ports on the Big Island, Maui, and Kauai. A hurricane warning was issued for the Big Island, while tropical storm warnings were in effect for Maui, Molokai, Kahoolawe, Lanai, Oahu, Kauai, and Niihau. Forecasters warned that the Big Island could receive up to 63.5 centimeters of rain, which could trigger life threatening floods and mudslides in steep terrain.

While some reports suggest the storm center passed just south of the Big Island without making a direct landfall, others note that the strongest winds remained over land. A direct hurricane landfall in Hawaii is rare; the last major hurricane to strike the state was Hurricane Iniki in 1992. Residents were urged to seek shelter, and approximately 130 people evacuated to designated shelters on the Big Island.

Several reports link the intensity of the storm to a powerful El Nino phenomenon in the central equatorial Pacific. Outlets with a center left lean explicitly attribute the increased frequency and intensity of such extreme weather events to human caused climate change and a dependence on fossil fuels. Outlets with a center lean focus more on the natural climate patterns of El Nino and the historical rarity of hurricanes hitting the islands.

How each side framed it

Centre-left
These outlets framed the hurricane as a consequence of human caused climate change and fossil fuel dependency.
Centre
These outlets focused on the meteorological data, historical context, and the natural influence of El Nino.

Sources

100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.