😱 Tropical Storm Lala Leaves Hawaii Reeling After Deadly Flooding Sweeps Away Homes and Claims a Life…

Hawaii is facing a heartbreaking reality this weekend as Tropical Storm Lala barrels through the islands, leaving tragedy and devastation in its wake. At least one person has lost their life, and entire homes have been swept away by fast-moving floodwaters.

Governor Josh Green confirmed the death occurred in a storm-related car crash on the Big Island late Saturday night. He also reported that 19 roofs were torn off buildings as what he called an “enormous storm” pounded the area with relentless fury.

Waves crashed violently along the coast as Lala moved slowly past, with howling winds bending palm trees and swelling waterways. The National Hurricane Center downgraded Lala to a tropical storm by Sunday morning.

Power outages have hit more than 130,000 households across Hawaii’s three largest islands, according to poweroutage.us. At least three hospitals are running on generators, Green said.

Search-and-rescue teams, including Civil Defense, the National Guard, and the Coast Guard, are now combing through debris after flash floods reportedly swept several occupied homes off their foundations in the coastal communities of Na’alehu and Wai’ohinu. That’s near the southern tip of the Big Island.

Mayor Kimo Alameda described the scene as incredibly difficult. “What makes this very challenging is that there’s rushing water, there’s debris, and there’s boulders on the road and it’s dark,” he said early Sunday.

As of 2 a. m. local time, Lala was centered about 105 miles west-northwest of Kailua-Kona, with tropical-storm-force winds stretching up to 175 miles from its center.

Maximum sustained winds hit 70 mph as the storm moved northwest at about 15 mph.

Forecasters expect Lala to regain hurricane strength midweek once it moves well west of the island chain. In the meantime, some higher-altitude areas on the Big Island—near the towering Mauna Kea volcano—could see up to 35 inches of rain before it’s all over.

That amount of water is enough to loosen steep slopes where many of the island’s 210,000 residents live off the grid in improvised housing.

As Hawaii braces for more rough weather, one question remains on everyone’s mind: how much more can these communities take before the sky finally clears?