All eyes have been on Hawaii this week, as the islands are bracing themselves for Hurricane Iselle – the first hurricane the islands have seen in 22 years. On the heels of Iselle is Julio, who is now a category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 105 miles an hour. Hurricane Iselle is currently blowing winds up to 85 miles an hour and is expected to hit the Hawaiian islands around 8:00pm Hawaii time tonight.
And to add to the craziness, Hawaii experienced a magnitude 4.5 earthquake earlier today. The earthquake brought minor damage and no Hawaii citizens were hurt, but it seems to be a bad omen for some Hawaii residents who fear that the earthquake, coming before two hurricanes (which is bad enough), is an even more pessimistic omen. “We have a hurricane. Now we have this on top of it. What else?” asked Waimea Grocery Store employee Kelsey Walker.
Meteorologists do not expect Hurricane Iselle to bring wind, nor do they think wind will be the problem with this storm; rather, they expect Iselle to bring lots of rain – as much as a foot to the Hawaiian Islands. The rain will only compound the problem, as mudslides, landslides, and flooding will be the major problems to worry about with this storm.
Hurricane Julio is expected to weaken before he makes landfall, but Iselle did not weaken as much as meteorologists expected. While she did weaken some in intensity, she remained at hurricane strength despite predictions that Iselle would downgrade to a tropical storm before landfall.
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