Homes destroyed by mudslide brought by Lala on Hawaii's Big Island
"The boulders that were coming down were so heavy they were like shaking the ground," resident Alice Birnbaum told CBS News.
August 17, 2026 / 9:31 PM EDT / CBS News
As Tropical Storm Lala continued moving west away from Hawaii on Monday, residents were dealing with the destruction from the heavy rain the storm brought to the islands over the weekend.
In the small community of Waiohinu on the southern point of Hawaii's Big Island, a mudslide swept through and destroyed about a dozen homes.
"We need water. We need, people need propane, people need gas, people need food," she said.
While a hurricane hasn't made direct landfall in the state since Iniki in 1992, the eye of then-Category 1 Hurricane Lala passed just 30 miles off the Big Island's coast over the weekend, bringing wind gusts over 80 mph and torrential rain, with some areas seeing more than 3 feet. Kapalua, located in Maui County, was hit with 48 inches of rain over the weekend.