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Hurricane Lane is headed for Hawaii this week, here are my thoughts.
First of all, with the path and the cone, remember that this will affect the Hawaiian Islands, the only question is how much. The cone is just for the eye of the storm, but the rain, wind, and storm surge extend much farther out from the potential path of eye of storm.
A few things you can count on are big waves and some coastal erosion on the south sides of the islands and other sides depending on where it goes. Big waves, rip currents, and some coastal flooding are coming with a big storm like this.
A few other things to think of are all the people in the way. Hawaii does get hit with hurricanes, but it is very rare. There was a Category 4 Iniki in the 1990's that caused $3 billion in damages and killed more than a dozen people. Hurricane Lane has potential to create more damage because it could hit Honolulu or Maui or both. Kauai was hit with Iniki, but it's very sparse compared to the other two islands.
It would be very difficult to evacuate, if not impossible, for hundreds of thousands of people. Power will be affected, and recovery would take longer since it is an island.
One thing I am not worried about is the volcano. It's possible some of the rain or wind could change the path of the lava — it's slowed recently — but it wouldn't "put it out." The volcano is formed from under the surface of the earth, so you would need a change below to stop the volcano.
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