(VIDEO) Hurricane Lowell Nears Hawaii, Kauai Under Warning As Australians Urged To Use Caution Travelling

HONOLULU — Hurricane Lowell tracked close to Hawaii’s western islands this week, prompting hurricane warnings for Kauai and Niihau and a tropical storm warning for Oahu, with Australia’s Smartraveller agency urging Australians heading to the popular tourist destination to exercise caution as the storm brought heavy rain, dangerous surf and the risk of flash flooding across the state.

The National Weather Service issued the hurricane warnings for Kauai and Niihau as Lowell, a major hurricane, passed just west of the main Hawaiian Islands overnight Monday into Tuesday. Australia’s Smartraveller advisory pointed to the storm’s potential to disrupt transport networks and essential services across the islands, urging travelers to monitor local media and follow directions from emergency authorities.

“Hurricane Lowell is expected to impact the Hawaiian Islands, particularly Kauai, bringing heavy rain, flash flooding, strong winds, and storm surges,” the Smartraveller advisory said.

The warning followed Hawaii’s emergency declaration Monday as state officials prepared for what forecasters described as potentially life-threatening conditions across the western islands.

Lowell had an unusually volatile trajectory in the days before nearing Hawaii. According to weather.com, the storm rapidly intensified from a tropical storm to only the second Category 5 hurricane of the 2026 Pacific season between early Tuesday and Wednesday of the previous week, before subsequently weakening. By the time it neared Hawaii, Lowell had eased to a Category 3 storm, with maximum sustained winds recorded at 115 to 120 mph at various points as it approached the islands.

Kauai County Mayor Derek Kawakami urged residents to stay off the roads as the storm closed in, crediting the county’s emergency management team for its preparation ahead of the hurricane’s arrival.

“In a good position to be able to weather this storm as one community,” Kawakami said, describing the county’s readiness heading into the storm.

The National Weather Service issued a stark warning to residents in the storm’s path as conditions deteriorated.

“Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion,” the National Weather Service said.

Forecasters warned of significant rainfall totals across the islands, with Kauai expected to see 6 to 10 inches of rain, with a possible maximum total as high as 16 inches, according to figures cited by ABC News and NBC News. The Big Island was forecast to receive 4 to 8 inches of rain, with isolated totals of up to 12 inches possible. That level of rainfall raised significant concerns about flash flooding and mudslides, particularly across Kauai County and portions of the Big Island’s hilly and mountainous terrain.

Wind gusts of up to 74 mph were forecast for Kauai County, with gusts up to 40 mph possible on Oahu, according to Hawaii Emergency Management Agency officials, who warned of the potential for power outages tied to both high winds and flash flooding. Forecasters also flagged the possibility that tornadoes could form near Kauai and Niihau amid the storm’s high winds, with a few additional tornadoes possible elsewhere across the Hawaiian Islands.

Storm surge added a further hazard along the coastlines of the affected islands, with forecasts calling for surges of 1 to 4 feet across Kauai County and up to a foot on Oahu, according to multiple forecasting sources. Combined with the storm’s powerful winds, forecasters warned that waves could reach as high as 30 feet across parts of the island chain, with dangerous surf and rip currents expected statewide regardless of the storm’s exact final track.

The Hawaii Department of Transportation warned that airlines could cancel flights in the days surrounding the storm’s closest approach, adding a further complication for both residents and visitors, including Australian tourists, attempting to travel to or from the islands during the period of greatest risk.

Lowell’s approach to Hawaii came amid an unusually active stretch of Pacific storm activity, with the hurricane representing one of three cyclones swirling in the Pacific over the same week, alongside Hurricane Karina, which weakened into a post-tropical cyclone while still producing gale-force winds well to the east of Hilo, and Hurricane Marie, which brought rain and elevated surf to Southern California.

Central Pacific Hurricane Center forecasters said Lowell was expected to weaken further as it moved past Kauai and Niihau, citing increasing wind shear and cooler sea-surface temperatures along the storm’s projected path. Forecasters projected the storm would decline to a minimal Category 1 hurricane, with winds around 75 mph, within roughly 24 hours of passing northwest of Kauai, before continuing to weaken as it moved further from the islands.

The Hawaiian Islands have faced a difficult stretch of storm-related disruption in recent months, with local officials in the town of Naʻālehu noting that a community hub had been established to provide food, water and supplies to residents in the two weeks following an earlier storm, Hurricane Lala, underscoring the cumulative strain repeated storm events have placed on some island communities this season.

With Lowell’s closest approach to the islands now largely behind it, forecasters said conditions were expected to gradually improve through the remainder of the week as the storm continued moving away from Hawaii on a north-northwest track. Even so, officials continued urging residents and visitors, including the Australian tourists specifically flagged in the Smartraveller advisory, to remain cautious given the lingering risk of dangerous surf, rip currents and the potential for continued flooding in low-lying and hilly areas across the state in the storm’s immediate aftermath.

For Australians with upcoming travel plans to Hawaii, Smartraveller continued advising travelers to monitor official local media channels and follow any additional directions issued by Hawaiian emergency management authorities in the days following Lowell’s passage, given the potential for continued disruptions to transport networks and essential services even after the storm’s most severe conditions had passed.