A quick prayer for our PAS family in Hawaii

[Lord Drakelord]

Felicia closes in on Hawaii
By GREG SMALL (AP) – 1 hour ago

HONOLULU — Hawaii residents kept a watchful eye on Felicia on Monday as the weakening tropical storm closed in on the islands.

A tropical storm watch for the Big Island was canceled Monday but remained in effect for Oahu and Maui County.

After being downgraded from a hurricane, Felicia had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph with higher gusts, according to Air Force reconnaissance aircraft. The storm was expected to weaken to a tropical depression with maximum sustained winds of 38 mph by Monday night, forecasters said.

Small crafts were advised to remain in port.

The Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu said at 11 a.m. HST that the storm's center was about 270 miles east-northeast of Hilo and about 440 miles east of Honolulu.

As the storm was moving west at about 12 mph, the center was expected to reach the Hawaiian Islands on Tuesday, by which time it was expected to have weakened to a tropical depression.

"In either case, the strongest winds are expected to be north of the circulation center and occur mostly over waters north of the islands," the center said.

Large waves generated by the storm will continue to build across the state through Monday night.

The approaching storm didn't seem to be affecting Hawaii's No. 1 industry, tourism.

"There has not been an appreciable increase in cancellations," state tourism liaison Marsha Wienert said.

Two public charter schools on the Big Island took it upon themselves not to open. All other public schools in the state remained open, although the situation would be reevaluated later Monday, a state Department of Education spokeswoman said.

No matter how strong Felicia's winds may be when it reaches Hawaii, locally heavy rain was still expected and flash flooding remained a possibility, forecasters said.

Although rainfall is welcome in the islands, the Honolulu Board of Water Supply prefers steady rains over several days to help to recharge aquifers.

"In general, we tend not to like the really heavy, dumping torrential rains because a good majority will be turned into runoff. So we tend to like the lighter, steadier rainfall," board spokeswoman Moani Wright-Van Alst said.

We hope all is well there! Mindy is concern about her UO Mom!

[Ciara]

Thank you for your prayer. I believe it has been answered, as Hurricane Felicia has been downgraded to a tropical storm. Whew!!!! It was a category 4 hurricane, which would have been really terrible. It's believed it will weaken even more before it hits the islands, which will probably be sometime Tuesday. The whole state has been cooperating in setting up emergency civil defense procedures and evacuation shelters, should they be necessary. At this point, its believed that it will not cause major damage from wind, but there will be some torrential rain in some areas. Where I live, we get torrential rain quite often, so that doesn't sound too bad, compared to a full hurricane.

Thanks very much for your kind thoughts, Drakelord. Give my best to Mindy. *hugs*

[KDSonoma]

oh Im sure Hawaii can kick its butt!

Just like the last one that was like a category 500 that was supposed to rip Texas in half, as soon as it hit the Texas beach it acted like it had been kicked in the teeth. It dropped off to nothing and cried all over (rain) and ran up towards Arkansas. *smiles*

Good luck everyone *hugs*.

KD

[Azareth]

All is well here , we got a ton of rain.. and some wind.. but not bad.. turned into a just a tropical storm ... altho.. another one is on the way apparently.. but hopefully will do the same!
Thank you for your kind thoughts during this time
All prayers are welcome !

*hugs*
Azareth