Hurricane Lane

The dreaded hurricane has finally arrived. Well, it’s cruising South of the Big Island at the moment. Reports indicate that there has been heavy rain, flooding, and high surf conditions on the Hilo side of the island. Weather on the Kona side was clear and sunny.

According to the latest projections, the hurricane will follow a trajectory South of all of the main islands, although it is supposedly moving closer to the other islands before moving West.

There has been much preparation, some prudent and others simply overreaction to the upcoming crisis. On O’ahu, the gym is closing at 11am on Thursday morning with a tentative resumption of normal hours sometime on Saturday. The management of the “old folks home” is shutting down operations at noon, specifying that service will resume once the hurricane passes. Bus service is shutting down at 6pm. As for Friday, who knows?

The petrol stations have long waiting lines. Some stations have depleted their petrol reserves. Food stores have been completely emptied. Prices for bottled water have shot up exponentially. Some people are panicking, others are non-plussed. Tourists are still going about their shopping mania.

For the homeless, today is just another day. Most of them have made no preparations. What can they do? There’s nowhere to store their “stuff.” So, they are simply waiting to see what happens next?