The latest round of unstable and moist air that caused flooding and at least one power outage Monday is expected to hang over the Big Island today.
The latest round of unstable and moist air that caused flooding and at least one power outage Monday is expected to hang over the Big Island today.
While rainfall might not be as widespread, the showers that do form could be strong, said Ian Morrison, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu.
“The moisture is not going anywhere,” he said. “… Any showers that do form could produce heavy downpours.”
A flash flood watch remains in effect until 6 p.m. today.
The thunderstorms and heavy showers at the start of the week were indirectly related to tropical depression Kilo, which was 820 miles west-southwest of Hilo and moving away from the islands to the north-northwest Monday afternoon.
Morrison said Kilo was pulling a “swath of tropical moisture” from near the equator. Rainfall is expected to decrease Wednesday through Friday with “more moisture on the way over the weekend,” he said.
On Monday, flooding twice forced the full closure of Highway 11 near Whittington Beach Park in Ka‘u, separating the communities of Pahala and Naalehu. No detour was available.
The road first was closed at 10 a.m., with one lane reopening at about noon. The road was completely closed again at about 2:45 p.m.
Darryl Oliveira, Hawaii County Civil Defense administrator, said the second closure occurred after students were released from school and didn’t prevent them from getting home that afternoon.
At 4 p.m., he said the flooded area was about a foot deep with the water level dropping. The road remained closed at 5 p.m.
On the Hamakua Coast, a thunderstorm disrupted power when lightning struck a tree, causing a branch to fall on nearby power lines near the Maulua Gulch at about 8 a.m.
A spokeswoman for Hawaii Electric Light Co. said 1,300 customers lost power as a result. Power was restored to all customers by 2 p.m., she said.
The following are 24-hour rainfall totals recorded as of 2:45 p.m. Monday:
• Pahala, 4.49 inches.
• Mountain View, 3.42 inches.
• South Point, 2.12 inches.
• Waikoloa, 1.69 inches.
• Kona International Airport, 1.40 inches.
• Honokaa, 1.16 inches.
• Hilo International Airport, 0.78 inches.
Farther to the east of the state, satellite imagery from late afternoon Monday indicated tropical depression 12-E, located about 1,500 miles west-southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, has continued to become better organized, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center. Environmental conditions are conducive for additional development, and the system is expected to move slowly westward and then west-northwestward during the next few days.
The hurricane center was forecasting Monday afternoon the system has a 90 percent chance of becoming a tropical storm within the next 48 hours.
Meanwhile, another system several hundred miles south of the coast of southwestern Mexico continued to produce shower and thunderstorm activity. The hurricane center said that disturbance likely will become a tropical depression later this week.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.