Tropcial Storm Watch 2014: Hurricanes Iselle and Julio to Hit Hawaii [Maps]
It's been more than two decades since Hawaii was last hit by a hurricane or tropical storm, however meteorologists say the Aloha state is on track to be hit by not one, but two hurricanes this week.
The first, Hurricane Iselle, is expected to make landfall on Thursday, although forecasters predict that it may weaken, reports NBC News. As of Wednesday, Iselle was downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane with 90 mph winds as it headed west toward the islands.
Iselle may strike as a tropical storm or a hurricane, but The Weather Channel meteorologist Ari Sarsalari says, "We'll have power outages likely from all the wind, and maybe some flooding as well from all the heavy rain."
Right behind Iselle is Hurricane Julio, which was packing 75 mph winds. Weather experts predict that it will hit Hawaii on Sunday, but there's a possibly that it may drift toward the north.
Most areas in Hawaii has been placed under a tropical storm watch or warning.
"We are gearing up for very heavy rains, possibly tropical storm force winds or worse, and strong surf," said National Weather Service meteorologist Anthony Reynes on Wednesday, USA Today reports. "We are hoping the event is on the tropical storm level, not the hurricane level."
To prepare for the storms, the state government has encouraged residents to make an emergency plan, while many people have been buying bottled water and supplies.
According to Kevin Roth, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel, the double hurricane system would set a new record in Hawaii, which hasn't been hit by a tropical storm or hurricane since 1992. That year, Hurricane Iniki killed six people and destroyed over 1,400 homes in Kauai, reports the Associated Press.
"We've been lucky so far. So we just need to really take this threat seriously and make sure everybody is prepared," said Lixion Avlia, a senior hurricane forecaster with the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
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