Several storms and hurricanes are causing havoc in Hawaii so far this year

Hawaii is experiencing an unusual 2026 when it comes to rainstorms and hurricanes. In March Hawaii experienced two rainstorms; one began on March 10 and lasted for a few days and the other on March 19 lasted for a few days as well. These caused flooding on the Islands and brought disruption to its usually vibrant tourism industry.

On August 15 the major force of hurricane Lala passed close to the southern tip of Hawaii’s Big Island, and even though it didn’t make a direct hit, it was still able to cause massive disruptions. Reporting on the hurricane, BBC says, “More than 100 properties were uprooted from their foundations on Big Island, but Governor Josh Green said there “amazingly” did not seem to have been any wider loss of life,” and also, “Despite not even making landfall, the storm still dumped up to 32in (81cm) of rain in places, sending torrents raging down mountainsides. More than 200,000 households were without power.” Please note that for a storm to be classified as a hurricane its wind speed has to be no less than 74 miles per hour (119 KPH). This however, does not diminish the potential impact of the storms because they too bring an extraordinary amount of rainfall and floods.

Hurricane Lala was followed by a rainstorm called Moke on August 23. It too passed south of the Big Island, and the heavy rainfall and wind it brought affected the recovery efforts that were underway following the passage of Lala.

Next was Hurricane Lowell on September 8, which passed close to the Hawaiian Island of Kauai, bringing fierce winds, intense rainfalls and floods. The islands of Kauai and the neighboring island of Niihau were the most affected. As a demonstration of the power of the winds, NBC News reports that “at a nearby Sheraton hotel, the hurricane carried several cars across the parking lot and destroyed the hotel’s oceanfront restaurant. Its pool sits full of sand,” and that at the time of writing, “around 80% of homes and businesses remain without power in Kauai County—more than 30,000 customers—according to the tracker poweroutage.us.“

On September 25 another hurricane, Nolo, was approaching Hawaii, and more fierce winds, heavy rainfalls and floodings were expected. Like the hurricanes this season, it did not make a direct hit on the islands, instead it passed south of the Big Island, causing the expected rainfalls, winds and floods.

As to the reason for such an active storm and hurricane season in the Hawaii pacific sea region BBC says “This year has seen a strong El Niño – a periodically occurring area of unusually warm surface water—develop in the Pacific, driven in part by climate change…as hurricanes and typhoons feed off warm sea waters, this spike in ocean temperatures could facilitate a higher number of storms that grow to have a greater intensity.”