LOS ANGELES, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Hurricane Lala damaged homes, bridges and power infrastructure across Hawaii over the weekend, leaving more than 250,000 people without electricity after the storm weakened to a tropical storm early Sunday.
At least 100 homes were damaged in southern Hawaii Island, commonly known as the Big Island, with several occupied homes reportedly swept off their foundations by flash floods, Hawaii Governor Josh Green said Sunday.
Hawaii County Mayor Kimo Alameda said an aerial assessment found six bridges destroyed or significantly damaged in the Kau district, leaving the community of Pahala isolated by road. County officials also reported road damage, flooded buildings and debris across the Kau district.
Search-and-rescue teams used Hawaii National Guard high-water vehicles and a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter to reach residents stranded by flooding, Hawaii County said. An ambulance crew was evacuated after floodwaters pushed its vehicle against a guardrail in the Pahala area.
Hawaiian Electric said more than 250,000 customers remained without power at 11 a.m. Sunday (GMT 2100) across Hawaii Island, Maui County and Oahu. The utility warned that outages could last weeks or even months in the hardest-hit rural areas because of damage to transmission infrastructure and limited access.
Governor Green said at least three hospitals were operating on backup generators.
Authorities were investigating whether any reported deaths were linked to the storm. A man was killed in a traffic crash on Saturday, while a body was found near a stream on Oahu, but officials said it was unclear whether either death was storm-related.
Several schools on Hawaii Island were also closed because of storm damage and unsafe road conditions, according to the Hawaii State Department of Education.
The U.S. National Weather Service said exceptional rainfall struck parts of the Big Island, with nearly 900 mm reported at some higher-elevation sites.
One of its meteorologists Robert Ballard told National Public Radio Sunday that the rainfall amount brought by Lala was beyond what the island can normally absorb. Ballard said Lala intensified as it approached the Big Island over unusually warm ocean water, which he described as relatively rare.
Lala weakened to a tropical storm early Sunday after passing just south of the Big Island. The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency urged residents to stay off roads, warning that flooding, fallen trees and downed power lines remained hazards. ■