At Hawaii County Civil Defense’s Hilo headquarters Friday, Mayor Kimo Alameda, Acting Civil Defense Administrator Darryl Oliveira and dozens others prepared for Hurricane Nolo’s approach to the Big Island.

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“I’m hoping that the rain settles,” Alameda told the Tribune-Herald. “It looks like we got some good news this morning with the forecast. It went from 40 inches of rain in some places to 30, and now to 25. So, it looks like it’s coming down. But anything over 10 inches of rain could be a problem.”

“How close it gets is going to determine how badly we get hit,” added Oliveira.

Nolo was expected to take a westerly turn from its mostly northerly track toward the Big Island. A tropical storm warning and hurricane watch remain in effect for the island.

“The timing of the turn to the west is critical in determining the impacts to the Big Island and is one of the biggest sources of the forecast uncertainty,” retired National Weather Service hydrologist Kevin Kodama wrote in his “Mauka Showers” blog. “Earlier forecasts had the turn occurring farther north, placing the Big Island at risk for much higher winds and rainfall. The most recent forecasts trended towards a turn farther south, which is welcome news for Big Island residents.

“However, we won’t know for sure until the turn actually occurs. As it currently stands, the southern portion of the Big Island has a significant probability of having tropical-storm-force winds …. .”

Alameda and other officials are concerned the storm — which on Friday was a category-2 hurricane that is expected to strengthen to category 3 — will produce heavy rainfall that could trigger another round of flooding and landslides in Ka‘u, which was devastated in mid-August by Hurricane Lala.

“We’ve done everything we could, up to this point, to clear debris,” Alameda said. “We looked at all of our culverts and all of our bridges. We’ve had an inventory on that, making sure it’s all clear. The big concern was Waiohinu and Na‘alehu. We’ve cleaned the debris in Na‘alehu, all the way up to the cemetery.

“We were also concerned about the cemetery, itself, making sure there’s no more displacement (of remains). We created a little engineering there, a safety net, to ensure there’s no more displacement.”

Gov. Josh Green said in a Friday video message that 121 Hawaii National Guard troops are “prepositioned” on the Big Island to watch over the washed-out cemetery, make high-water rescues with their specialized vehicles, if necessary, and assist police and social services workers with welfare checks on the elderly and housebound.

Alameda said he’s “concerned about residents heeding our warnings, to be honest.”

“My message is to stay connected, to heed our warnings,” he said.

Oliveira voiced similar concerns but thinks the community is listening.

“With the earlier forecasts, which don’t necessarily look like what the public is experiencing, I always worry: Are they taking things seriously, are they going to adhere to the advice to get out of harm’s way? But I think because the community has already gone through Lala, they are taking it seriously,” Oliveira said. “We’re asking all residents, if you need to shelter, now’s the time. Don’t wait until just before the flood or during the flood. We think that’s how we might have ran into trouble last time.

“If you’re in a flood-prone area, either seek higher ground or come to one of our shelters.”

The county opened an additional shelter Friday at Ikuo Hisaoka Gym, 54-382 Kamehameha Park Rd. in Kapa‘au.

The other nine shelters are: Honoka‘a Gym, 45-541 Lehua St. in Honoka‘a; Papa‘aloa Park Annex, 35-1994 Government Main Rd. in Papa‘aloa; Puueo Community Center, 145 Wainaku St. in Hilo; Kahilu Town Hall, 67-1182 Lindsey Rd. in Waimea; Ocean View Community Center, 92-8924 Leilani Circle in Ocean View; Yano Hall, 82-6156 Mamalahoa Hwy. in Captain Cook; Na‘alehu Elementary School G ym, 95-5545 Mamalahoa Highway in Na‘alehu; Robert N. Herkes Gym, 96-1219 Kamani St. in Pahala; and Kea‘au Armory, 16-512 Volcano Rd. in Kea‘au.

Shelter occupants are asked to bring their own food, water and any necessary medicine. Shelters are pet friendly, but bring your own carrier and leash.

Oliveira said 18 residents stayed at shelters Thursday evening into Friday, with the majority at the Kea‘au Armory.

In addition, the Salvation Army on Friday temporarily relocated its Hilo Overnight Safe Space, which serves houseless community members, to Hilo High School. The state Department of Health is providing care support, and the Hawaii Animal Kuleana Alliance is supplying kennels and pet supplies for guests seeking shelter with their pets.

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At the county’s shelter in Kea‘au, about a dozen people had checked in by Friday morning, including Scott Douglas and Clayton Dudoit, who were sitting out front watching the rain come down.

Douglas, 47, said he had come to the shelter Thursday night from Hawaiian Paradise Park with his 76 year-old mother.

“With the winds and the rains and stuff, we don’t take a chance,” he said.

He said they came to this same shelter during Hurricane Lala last month.

“It was our first time coming here, and there was about 50 people here,” he said. “It was a little bit crowded, but it was actually not bad. This place held up real well.”

Dudoit, 75, said he had been brought to the shelter by a transportation company on Thursday after being released from the hospital, where he was being treated for chronic pain.

“I was advised not to go back to my property in Fern Forest, and they brought me here instead, which is probably the best thing for me. … I didn’t know what I was gonna do because I was without my medication,” he said. “These people really looked out for me because they had been up to my property before, and they said, ‘no way are we gonna abandon you out there,’ because the rain up in Fern Forest turns my street into a river.”

He said he had been able to pick up his medications from the Longs Drugs store across the street from the shelter and felt safe and prepared to ride out the storm.

Over at the Kea‘au Shopping Center, Evelynn Flamez, 27, was with her 12 month-old son getting in one last load of laundry before hunkering down at their home in Eden Roc.

“My husband is at work right now, but then when he comes home, we’ll probably just get things taken care of around our property, make sure nothing blows away,” she said.

While she said their property fared relatively well during Hurricane Lala, she said it also served as a wake-up call to make preparations for future storms like Nolo.

“With Lala, everyone was like, ‘Oh, the hurricane’s not gonna touch Hawaii,’ because it hadn’t touched in lots of years,” she said. “I think after that we were like, okay, we need to take this serious.”

Down the street at Longs, Susan Fein, 70, of Orchidland was with her dog Mango picking up a few supplies.

Fein said she had been through numerous hurricanes, including Hurricane Iniki in 1992 — which she said destroyed her home and business on Kauai. She said she would like to see the government do more to support people, especially amid the string of disasters the state has been experiencing in recent months.

“We got a little complacent over the last few years because you didn’t get any major hurricanes, and now we’ve got what? Three in a row,” she said. “This back-to-back thing is what really hurts local people because they haven’t had a chance to recover yet and are getting hit again.”

Green announced Friday that President Donald Trump has already declared Hurricane Nolo an emergency, making 75% federal recovery funding available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“This approval gives our state and counties the additional federal support needed to act before conditions deteriorate … ,” said Green. “We are grateful to President Trump, FEMA and our federal partners for responding quickly and helping us prepare. I urge residents and visitors to take this threat seriously, follow official guidance, and be ready to shelter in place or evacuate if directed.”

Email Grace Inez Adams at [email protected] and John Burnett at [email protected].

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