Hawaii under hurricane warning as Tropical Storm Lala approaches Big Island

A hurricane warning is in effect for Hawaii's Big Island as Tropical Storm Lala approaches, with hurricane conditions expected by Saturday local time, according to the National Hurricane Center as reported by CBS News.

Tropical storms become hurricanes when maximum sustained winds reach 74 mph. In the National Hurricane Center's latest advisory Friday evening local time, Lala was located about 235 miles east-southeast of South Point, Hawaii, and 440 miles southeast of Honolulu, moving west-northwest at 12 mph with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center project Lala could dump up to 25 inches of rain onto the Big Island in a worst-case scenario, with 8 to 12 inches across Maui and the Big Island more generally, and 4 to 6 inches with maximum amounts of 8 inches across the rest of the islands. The rainfall may produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in areas of steep terrain. Lala could also produce a storm surge as high as 3 feet along the coast, along with large waves and life-threatening rip current conditions.

A hurricane warning is in place for the Big Island. A tropical storm warning covers Maui County (Maui, Lanai, Molokai, and Kahoolawe), Oahu, and Kauai County (Kauai and Ni'ihau). Lala's center is forecast to move near the South Point of the Big Island on Saturday, then south of the smaller islands on Sunday. Wind speeds are expected to be significantly higher in elevated areas and on the windward sides of slopes and mountains, according to the Miami-based hurricane center.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green declared a state of emergency Thursday, activating potential disaster relief funds and directing all state agencies to cooperate and extend their services and materials to assist in emergency response efforts. Green stated: "This is a very serious storm. We have not had a hurricane make landfall in quite some time." He added: "We're hoping that it's going to be sufficiently far south that we just get the periphery of the storm, but, no promises, we've seen storms turn."

National Weather Service warning coordination meteorologist John Bravender noted that even though the forecast track shows the storm passing south of the islands, "tropical storm force winds will extend north and could impact all the islands." Hawaii County Mayor Kimo Alameda stated: "We're not exempt from these extreme weather conditions. So we've been here before, and messages have already gone out. But this could look like a big one."

Most areas of Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island would close to visitors by Friday afternoon ahead of the storm's arrival, according to the National Park Service. The last hurricane to make landfall in Hawaii was Hurricane Iniki in 1992, which struck as a powerful Category 4. Iniki was responsible for six deaths and $3 billion in damage, according to Hawaii Gov. Josh Green.