Home >  Hawaii >  Hurricane Lala - August 15-16+, 2026

Overview

Early storm track forecasts had the track approaching the Hawaiian islands from the southeast. Because the storm did not have a well form eye, confidence in the forecasted storm track and intensity was low. As a circular pattern evolved, intensity and path forecasting improved.

	National Weather Advisory 13
	National Weather Service Radar, South Point. The South Point radar would later encounter a communications outage, resulting is the loss of valuable updates.

Amateur Radio Operations

The following amateur radio frequencies were noted as having storm related traffic.

HF operations:

• 3888 kHz LSB, 80 meter net
• 5330.5 kHz USB, 60 meter net, HIEMA RACES/AUXCOMM
• 7080 kHz USB, HealthComm (Hawaii Association for Healthcare)
• 7090 kHz LSB, 40 meter net, HIEMA RACES/AUXCOMM

Department of Emergency Management/EARC, Oahu County, VHF

• 146.64- PL 88.5, Laie, Oahu
• 146.66- PL 88.5, Kailua, Oahu
• 146.68- PL 88.5, Leeward Oahu
• 146.86- PL 88.5, Palehua, Oahu
• 146.88- PL 88.5, Diamond Head, Oahu
• 146.90- PL 88.5, Kahuku, Oahu
• 146.98- PL 88.5, Frank Fasi Municipal Building, Oahu

Big island operations:

Big Island, HF, Meshcore and HIEMA RACES/AUXCOMM Operations

Hurricane Lala affected the state of Hawaii as it passed south of the state on Saturday August 15 and Sunday August 16, 2026. Amateur radio operators throughout the state of Hawaii assisted emergency management during this event.

The storm started affecting the island of Hawaii early Saturday morning with the onset of winds and rainfall. At 2:00 pm HST on Saturday, the eye of the storm passed about 50 miles south of South Point, the closest approach to land. The eyewall grazed South Point and the National Weather Service classified this landfall event as a tropical storm rather than a hurricane. Maximum sustained winds at that time were 75 MPH, and the storm moved northwest or 315 degrees at 8 MPH.

Earlier in the morning, the usual local 40-meter net commenced at 9 am on 7090 kHz. Net control was Roger Anger KH6PXM on Maui. At Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HIEMA), radio operator Carter Davis KH6FV manned the HF position, and received situation reports from the various stations and apprised them of the storm’s progress and impact. As the storm intensified, people remained within their homes or shelters for safety, limiting the situation reports to wind and rain reports, local storm damage to their property and a few other items. Many HF aluminum and wire antennas were damaged. Joe Tabrah, ARES NCS, ran the ARES Watch nets at the top of the hour with the exception of 12 noon and 4 pm which were handled by the 40-meter net. Typically, between twenty to thirty stations were on the net.

Carter Davis also operated Winlink/CMS. He compiled the situation reports and submitted it to the HIEMA staff via the WebEOC internal incident management system. Davis was joined by Ron Hashiro KH6D and Peter Yuen KH6JBS in manning the HIEMA RACES/AUXCOMM radio room, monitoring the Honolulu county Department of Emergency Management (DEM) VHF Repeater system and working with the State Warning Point.

In the afternoon, Hashiro and Yuen were able to configure a temporary 1 watt MeshCore repeater within the EOC annex building within Diamond Head crater to reach repeaters installed at the home of Robin Liu AH6CP. These data radios use the unlicensed 915 MHz band of which is also shared with amateur radio. An app on the phone connects through the radios and provides SMS text-like messaging through the repeaters which can be powered via solar panels of USB chargers and batteries and is independent of the cellular network. From Liu’s home, the signals were relayed to a repeater atop Mauna Loa on the big island of Hawaii, Kent Tsutsui KH7BR reported that the Oahu messages were received at Hilo down to Keeau. The information traveled over 215 miles away in four to five hops from the sender to the receivers. The packets went from Oahu to Waikaloa, Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea to Hilo. With commercial power, broadcast media, Internet and cell phone services interrupted in varying degrees, those on MeshCore on the Big Island were able to receive timely information and weather information relayed from Oahu.

It has since been learned that the MeshCore node on Mauna Loa is a 100 mW solar repeater mounted on the exterior of the building, which provided some protection against the very high winds and rain. That is sufficient enough to provide relay towards Hilo but not enough power to reach Oahu at that time.

The situation in the Kau district on the southeast side of the Big Island deteriorated Saturday evening and night as the moist air rose up the slopes of Mauna Loa, cooled and formed massive downpours that instantly turned land saturated with rainwater into brand new river. Rain fell at 3 to 5 inches per hour and accumulated totals between 28 to 37 inches. The highway and roadways became massive rivers. Water crossing the highway at select points began undercutting the foundation of the road causing breaks in the highway. Albizia trees toppled across the road, blocking the entire roadway with trunks in excess of ten feet in diameter further restricting passage. Log debris covered the bridges in the area. These obstructions delayed movement after the storm passed with many choosing to remain safe by not driving until daylight.

The area at Naalehu was hardest hit. The damaged roads isolated access to the community from the east and Hilo, and from the west and Kona.

Blake Stene KH7MS was able to pass a message on the 40 meters net through HIEMA AUXCOMM to the Hilo EOC for Rick Ward WH6FC who is a volunteer fire fighter.

Oahu DEM Operations

On the main island of Oahu, DEM activated their RACES unit on Saturday to supplement their emergency response. Michael Miller KH6ML and Mark Kaku KH6LT headed up the unit with radio operators including Sammy De Costa WH6GTR, Keith Higa WH7GG, Steve Kawamae KH6WG, Ralph Miranda WH7PD, Jan Mitchell WH7Y, running the net on the around-the-island RACES VHF repeater network. They kept the staff updated with reports sent in from the field.

On Oahu on Sunday morning at 4:37 am, the National Weather Service issued an imminent threat flash flood notice through the cell phone network and the Honolulu County HNLALERT notification network indicating the rapid rise in stream levels including the Manoa Stream. The stream water level rose from 4.5 feet to 9 feet in about 30 minutes and would exceed the critical level of 13 feet one hour later. Ron Hashiro recognized the threat of the stream flow hitting the bridge at Woodlawn Drive. In October 2004 and March 2026, Noelani Elementary School and the University of Hawaii were heavily damaged when the rising water from the stream encountered the bottom of the bridge, causing it to jump onto the roadway and causing massive flooding down Woodland Drive and points beyond. Hashiro immediately contacted Miranda and advised him to notify DEM staff of the danger and recommended dispatching a police officer to investigate and divert traffic as needed. The responding officer saw the danger and called for a work crew to remove debris which had collected in front of the bridge, damming the flow of water and further compounding the stream to jump onto the roadway. Hashiro also phoned the State Warning Point to notify University personnel of the incoming flood risk. The stream flow did jump the bridge and turned Woodland Drive into a muddy river.

Reservist Ralph Toyama NH6PY was dispatched to Waikiki to assist Honolulu Police Department with traffic and pedestrian control to free the officers to respond to other items. A large object fell from the roof of the Princess Kaiulani hotel and landed on the sidewalk below.

Hurricane Lala, Manoa Stream - August 16, 2026

The high winds, heavy rainfall and falling trees and branches have impacted commercial power service and have hit the Big Island and Oahu especially hard. At the Saturday 8 pm, 88,000 customers were in the dark with over 63,000 Big Island customers affected. On Sunday 11:00 AM, over 250,000 customers were affected with 173,900 on Oahu, 50,800 on the Big Island and 26,200 on Maui County. As of late afternoon Monday, the total number of affected customers dropped to roughly 88,670 persons. With major transmission lines on the Big Island and on Oahu out of service, Hawaiian Electric (HECO) warned that full restoration in remote, rural areas of the Big Island could take weeks or months. One hundred utility linemen from partner companies in California are arriving and will start working alongside HECO crews starting Wednesday.

DEM RACES shutdown at 2:42 pm on Sunday, and HIEMA RACES/AUXCOMM shutdown at 5:00 pm Sunday.

Healtcomm Operations

The Healhcomm amateur radio network that works closely with the Hawaii Association for Healthcare (HAH) was active on 7080 kHz Jack Tsujimura reports North Hawaii Community Center in Waimea/Kamuela was activated. Kau Hospital was activated however they did not have a ham operator.

Post Radio Operations

Road access to Naalehu has been reestablished. At the peak, over 200,000 customers were without power. Tens of thousands remain without power with 95% restoration to the hardest hit section of Kau district estimated to be done by end of day September 8.

William Polhemus NH6ET reports via the Big Island Amateur Radio Club Facebook group

• Pepeokeo repeater 146.880- remains offline. Power has not been restored to the site, which remains inaccessible (8/19)
• Kulani Cone repeater 146.760- remains online. Generator power to the site is supplied by the US Coast Guard until commercial power is restored. (8/19) The Kulani Cone All Start gateway node ID is 503160. Internet connectivity is via FirstNet.
• The Manoa Loa site suffered roof damage, and heavy rains caused water damage to electronic equipment inside. It is not known when repairs can be made to the site. The Mauna Loa UHF repeater 442.575+, the WSPR beacon, and two Mestastic nodes did not survive Hurricane Lala. The UHF repeater, the WSPR beacon and one Meshtastic node have been recovered. (8/19) This is the site of the KH6HME beacons. (8/20)

Graphic provided by HECO through social media

Hawaiian Electric Power Restoration Maps - August 2026

On the Governor Green’s daily interagency emergency management video conference calls for the incident, he continued to praise the fantastic and dedicated work done by all of the thousands of responders to the incident and the collaborative interagency teamwork contributing to keep the community safe from loss of life, minimize property damage and restoring access and services as soon as practical. He expressed his gratitude at the across-the-board efforts. The mayors and emergency management departments echoed the sentiment. That collaboration includes the amateur radio volunteers and those within the community participating and contributing important and timely information for decision making and action.

The communications for the NWS radar at South Point has been restored. (August 19)

Preparations are underway for Tropical Disturbance EP90, which has a 90% chance of becoming a tropical storm and is expected to enter Hawaiian Waters around Saturday August 22 or Sunday August 23. (August 19) It is now named Tropical Disturbance Two C (August 20)

Find out more by contacting:  rhashiro(remove this part)@hawaiiantel.net
Copyright © 1997-2026 Ron Hashiro
August 19, 2026. Updated: August 20, 2026

DISCLAIMER: Ron Hashiro Web Site is not responsible for the content at
any of the external sites that we link to and therefore
are not necessarily endorsed by us.