A flood watch is now in effect for Hawaiʻi until Friday, along with a high surf advisory for south-facing shores in the state.
Elsewhere across the islands, last month’s back-to-back Kona lows have left the ground waterlogged, raising concerns that heavy rainfall throughout the week could lead to more devastating flash floods.
On Maui, severe weather prompted the closure of Hāna High and Elementary School.
To give us an outlook on the storm, HPR spoke with Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi for the latest updates.
Interview Highlights
On the latest forecast
BLANGIARDI: The radar pretty much gives you three scenarios, and invariably, what I'll say is that we're headed for a lot of rain over the next three days, possibly through Saturday, and this system is going to somewhat sit on us. The question is, as it moves through, what will be the actual amount of rain that will fall. … So I think the low would be 4 to 6 (inches), the moderate is 6 to 10, and the worst case is 11 to 17 in parts of our island. Now, that said, we already had over 50 inches of rain. I'm talking about Oʻahu now, in parts of the island, which was an extraordinary weather event.
On the heightened flood risk
BLANGIARDI: We are concerned, as I said at the outset, about every inch of rain, because it's not just an inch of rain now, it's an inch of rain on top of all the rain we've had. So it has some, and I don't have a formula for it, but we all know it has some kind of compound effect. …I am truly hopeful that the public realizes they have a responsibility in this too. And if people don't feel safe, they should leave early and not wait for a storm to turn. Moreso if they know they're in a zone that could likely be evacuated, because people know where they live, they understand the low lying areas and what's prone. People are aware of that. That's one thing we've learned. Everybody's known their circumstance, but knowing full well that we're about to get this. Please do your part. If you don't feel safe, you have a place to go to, go now. Don't wait for a storm.
On opening storm shelters
BLANGIARDI: We're going to open up our shelters at one o'clock today. We already opened up Kāneʻohe yesterday, and so initially there'll be four shelters: Wahiawā District Park, Kāneʻohe, which is already open, Mānoa Valley District Park and Wai‘anae District Park. And all those shelters will be staffed. All those shelters will have police, security, but we ask people to bring their own stuff, because we don't have that capability, although the Red Cross and other organizations receiving donations, and we'll see what happens.
...We have prepared to open up another six shelters if needed, two of them schools. And part of that timing of it, I talked to Superintendent Hayashi this morning, is Nānākuli High and Intermediate. A lot of it depends on whether the school is open or closed. But I told him that would be the very next shelter we would want to open. And the other one is Kahuku Elementary. And then we have four other parks that we will open if needed, based on what's happened in those respective locations. I believe one is in Mililani. There's another one which I'm not exactly sure where that is, and I think it's in the ʻEwa area. So we will make sure we have places for people to go to.
More information about storm shelters opening across Oʻahu can be found on the Honolulu City & County Website.
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This story aired on The Conversation on April 8, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
