The National Weather Service is anticipating Tropical Storm Nolo to develop into a hurricane on Thursday evening that will pass closest to the island of Hawaiʻi.
Nolo could bring up to 30 inches of rain, increasing the likelihood of flash flooding.
Gov. Josh Green announced closures on Hawaiʻi Island and Maui for University of Hawaiʻi campuses, public schools, parks and state and county offices.
Nolo comes at a time when state resources have already been strained by previous hurricanes Lala and Lowell — meaning power and water outages are a major concern.
Jim Kelly is the vice president for government and community relations and corporate communications at the Hawaiian Electric Company. He spoke with HPR to share how they’re navigating the uncertainties of this latest storm.
Interview Highlights
On preparing for Nolo
JIM KELLY: So the timing actually worked out really well to be able to get our crews back to their respective islands to be ready for Nolo. … Equipment is already on its way, and some equipment has already been returned to where it started from. So we are in a good spot, in particular on Hawaiʻi Island, and as always, we'll have our crews from Oʻahu and Maui as well available to go over there depending on the outcome of the storm.
On restoring power on Hawaiʻi Island after Lowell
KELLY: We've got everybody back. Everyone is back and has been back for about a week, 10 days now. So we're hoping that they are going to stay back, but we have sufficient equipment. We have our crews positioned to meet whatever needs there might be over there after the storm passes. I think what's going to be different this time, it sounds like even more so an issue with rain and flooding and mudslides as we saw before. So that's always challenging, just getting access to infrastructure if we need to do that.
On anticipating storm damage
KELLY: What's kind of challenging with a slow-moving storm like Nolo is that it has to be that there's a damage assessment period that happens after the storm passes, and that it has to be safe for our crews to go out and look and see what needs to be done. The repairs and the restoration don't happen immediately after the sun comes out. The winds have to be low enough so they can get the buckets up, which is about 30 mph. They can't put up the buckets if the winds are blowing past that. And obviously, if there's issues with roads being blocked, that sort of thing as well.
Find the latest updates on Tropical Storm Nolo’s development here.
This story aired on The Conversation on Sept. 24, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
