At 5 p.m. tonight Hurricane Julio was about 365 miles east-northeast of Hilo with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph with higher gusts. That’s about 10 mph less than the previous report six hours earlier, according to the Central Pacific
At 5 p.m. tonight Hurricane Julio was about 365 miles east-northeast of Hilo with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph with higher gusts. That’s about 10 mph less than the previous report six hours earlier, according to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center.
Gradual weakening of the storm, which is now a Category 1 hurricane, is forecast during the next 48 hours, but Julio is expected to remain a hurricane through Sunday night.
Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 35 miles from the center of the storm and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 160 miles.
The storm is traveling to the northwest at 16 miles an hour and is expected to pass north of the Big Island Sunday morning.
“Based on my discussions … with the National Weather Service, it’s on a more northerly track,” Hawaii County Civil Defense Administrator Darryl Oliveira said at about 5:15 p.m. “We could experience some rain. No (increased) wind is forecasted; maybe some surf. … It’s so far out right now it’s hard for them to gauge how much rain we could see. They could still put us on a flash flood warning and watch depending on how much rain and how long it is.”
Officials have expressed concern that further drenching of already saturated grounds could cause flooding in some portions of the Big Island. The eastern-facing shores of the Big Island are under a high surf warning.
“We’ve asked the National Weather Service as it moves forward any time we could experience rain or surf to let us know in advance, because we’ve got people in the community who lost their roofs,” Oliveira said. “We’ve got people down in the Kapoho area who are already affected by surf and surges. We want to keep them informed so they can take action.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
