Portions of the Big Island received intermittently heavy rain over the weekend, but it appears the flooding officials feared as a result of rain bands from Hurricane Lowell didn’t materialize.

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Portions of the Big Island received intermittently heavy rain over the weekend, but it appears the flooding officials feared as a result of rain bands from Hurricane Lowell didn’t materialize.

The storm itself, which passed to the south of the islands and took a northerly turn to the west of Kauai, weakened from a Category 5 cyclone last week into a tropical storm Tuesday.

Acting Civil Defense Administrator Darryl Oliveira told the Tribune-Herald there are “no reports as of yet” of damage due to flooding over the Labor Day weekend — especially in Ka‘u, which is still in the process of digging out from the damage caused by Hurricane Lala.

“We are seeing intermittent episodes of, I’d say, light to moderate rain,” Oliveira said. “But the (National Weather Service) did report this morning that some areas down in that particular district did see as much as four inches of rain in the last 24 hours — but no reports of any flooding or any impacts as of yet. And our Public Works crews were down there this morning and Ninole Stream is flowing, but we’re not having any reports of any issues or impacts as of yet.”

A flood watch remains into effect until 6 p.m. today, and Oliveira said officials are still in potential response mode.

“We are tracking the rain because these are the trailing bands of a system that does have the potential of dropping a significant amount of rainfall, and we’re especially sensitive to those areas that were impacted previously, as well as the grounds may be saturated,” he said.

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The rainfall totals on Hawaii Island are far below those on Oahu and Kauai that caused the closure of state and county offices, schools and courts on Oahu on Tuesday and on Kauai for the remainder of the week, and National Weather Service forecaster Derek Wroe described the Big Island as being “on the peripheral edges of the moisture” caused by Lowell.

The forecasts for both Hilo International Airport and Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keauhou are for scattered showers and thunderstorms — heavy at times — through today, with showers likely through the remainder of the week.

“Right now, with Lowell lifting away from the area to the north, everything has been canceled that’s directly connected to Lowell … ,” Wroe said. “And the winds have dropped considerably, so we’re in this sort of light southerly flow and there’s a lot of moisture hanging around, so there might be some spotty, heavy showers that will develop, mainly in the interior of the Big Island.

“The tradewinds will try to return … maybe later today or Thursday. But in between that boundary of the tradewind and the southerly flow, there’s a zone where those two meet and are converging, and in that convergence, there is moisture, so there could be some heavy showers and maybe a thundershower over the interior.”

Hurricanes Karina and Marie have both dissipated prior to reaching the Central Pacific. And although the high surf brought by Lowell and Karina to the Big Island is subsiding, according to Wroe, a source told the Tribune-Herald that Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of America stayed a rare, perhaps unprecedented second day in Hilo because the tender boats that take people ashore in Kona and return them to the ship can’t operate in the high surf.

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Email John Burnett at [email protected].