Hurricane Lowell battered Hawaii's western islands and is linked to at least 2 deaths

HONOLULU — Hurricane Lowell's intense winds and storm surge that battered Hawaii's western islands this week are suspected in the deaths of at least two people.

On the island of Kauai, the storm damaged oceanfront resorts, knocked out power and ripped apart roads, while on Lanai, a cargo port where much of the island's food and supplies arrive was inoperable, the state's governor said.

Lowell brushed by the islands in the overnight hours Tuesday with damaging winds that extended well beyond the hurricane's center, which stayed offshore.

While it has been a relatively quiet Atlantic hurricane season, there have been four hurricanes in the Pacific since the beginning of August. A new tropical storm formed on Thursday.

In Hawaii, first responders on Kauai's south end found the body of a 74-year-old man on Wednesday near the shoreline. Authorities believe his death was related to the storm surge, police said.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said another man was killed on Oahu when a large tree fell on his tent Monday during the storm. The man was homeless and living in a park, he said.

Hawaii's governor asks Trump to declare a disaster

The Democratic governor on Wednesday asked President Donald Trump to issue a major disaster declaration to expedite federal help for Kauai and Maui counties.

“We cannot wait for every damaged road, utility pole, harbor and public facility to be assigned a dollar value before asking the federal government to act,” Green said in making the request.

Lowell knocked out power to much of Kauai on Tuesday but electricity was being restored, with the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative saying the following day that power was back on at three hospitals. Across the island, just under 16,000 customers were without power Thursday, according to poweroutage.us.

The governor said the overall destruction to Hawaii's infrastructure, businesses and homes may be comparable to that of Hurricane Iniki — a Category 4 storm that walloped Kauai in 1992 and caused $3 billion in damage.

Lowell has since been downgraded to a tropical storm and was moving westward over open water.

A new storm forms in the Pacific

Tropical Storm Norbert formed Thursday in the Pacific but wasn't threatening land, forecasters said.

The storm was about 685 miles (1,102 kilometers) southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula of Mexico, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said. It had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (64 kph) and was moving west.

There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect, the center said. Some gradual strengthening was forecast over the coming days.

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