HILO — Rainfall associated with Tropical Storm Erick continued throughout Friday as the cyclone passed south of Hawaii Island on Friday, and Tropical Storm Flossie crossed into the Central Pacific.
As of 2:45 p.m. Friday, Hilo International Airport had already seen 3.03 inches of rain within the previous 24 hours, according to Melissa Dye, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu.
Elsewhere in East Hawaii, the Saddle Quarry gauge measured 5.3 inches, Mountain View received 3.84 inches, Pahoa saw 3.26 inches and Laupahoehoe received 1.6 inches in the same period.
“There’s still a little bit of rain ongoing at this time,” Dye said at about 3 p.m. Friday. “It looks like another band might be pushing onshore now.”
NWS predicted 4-8 inches of rain from Erick, and rainfall totals “should be within that,” she said.
By 5 p.m. Friday, Erick was about 310 miles south-southwest of Honolulu and moving west-northwest at about 9 mph with maximum sustained winds near 40 mph and higher gusts, according to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu.
That pattern is expected to continue during the next few days, with a loss of forward speed Sunday.
According to Dye, the effects of Erick were expected to be trending down through the rest of Friday and into today. A brief break in the rain is expected today, she said, “before we start to feel some of the impact from Flossie.”
Flossie entered the Central Pacific on Friday afternoon, trekking west-northwest at 17 mph, which is expected to continue during the next 48 hours, according to forecasters.
As of 5 p.m. Friday, Flossie was about 930 miles east of Hilo with maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour and higher gusts. Tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 140 miles from the center.
According to forecasters, Flossie is expected to gradually weaken during the weekend and early next week.
Dye said the Big Island will begin to see impacts from Flossie early Sunday, but those will be “much of the same” as Erick, “maybe a little bit lower impact.” Another round of rain could bring an additional 1-4 inches.
Flossie has been “a really tricky storm to nail down, unfortunately,” Dye said.
The storm’s northward turn will take it somewhat to the east of Hawaii Island should the current track hold, but Dye said it’s too soon to say how close the storm could come to the island.
“It’s really going to depend on when it will take that northward turn,” she said.
Whittington and Punaluu beach parks in Ka‘u, which were closed earlier this week as Erick approached, reopened Friday afternoon and Isaac Hale Beach Park in Puna will reopen at 9 a.m. today, according to county Civil Defense. South Point Road also was set to reopen Friday.
All camping permits and pavilion rentals in those parks are canceled through the weekend.
The bayfront parking lot on Kamehameha Avenue will remain closed until further notice. Hele On buses will pick up passengers behind the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
The county Department of Public Works announced this week that sand is available at locations around the island so residents can make their own sandbags to fend off possible flooding from the two tropical storms.
The sand is available while supplies last and distribution locations can be seen on a map at https://arcg.is/1PjSq1.
Weather updates can be found online at weather.gov/hawaii.
Email Stephanie Salmons at ssalmons@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
