Hurricane Lane has weakened as it approaches Hawaii but was still expected to pack a wallop, forecasters said Wednesday, as people hurried to buy water and other supplies and the Navy moved its ships to safety.
The National Weather Service said tropical-storm-force winds could begin as early as Wednesday afternoon on the Big Island.
The hurricane was about 305 miles south of Kailua-Kona and moving northwest toward other islands.
Meteorologist Chevy Chevalier in Honolulu said its winds had slowed overnight from 160 mph to 155 mph, prompting a downgrade from a Category 5 to a Category 4 hurricane.
He said it may drop to a Category 3 by Thursday afternoon but that would still be a major hurricane.
“We expect it to gradually weaken as it gets closer to the islands,” Chevalier said. “That being said, on our current forecast, as of the afternoon on Thursday, we still have it as a major hurricane.”
With winds anticipated to 130 mph, the hurricane could cause catastrophic damage.
The U.S. Navy was moving its ships and submarines out of Hawaii. All vessels not currently undergoing maintenance were being positioned to help respond after the storm, if needed.
Navy aircraft will be kept in hangars or flown to other airfields to avoid the storm.
The central Pacific gets fewer hurricanes than other regions, with about only four or five named storms a year. Hawaii rarely gets hit. The last major storm to hit was Iniki in 1992. Others have come close in recent years.
Associated Press writers Dan Joling in Anchorage, Alaska, and Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.
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