Hurricane may bring
needed rain to arid islesWeather forecasts
By Gary T. Kubota
Star-BulletinWAILUKU -- Hawaii County Civil Defense Assistant Administrator Bruce Butts has a message for Hurricane Eugene: Leave the winds behind. Bring the rain.
As the hurricane nears the Hawaiian Islands, Big Island and Maui officials are hoping its strength diminishes and that Eugene will turn into a storm system that delivers rain to drought-stricken areas.
The hurricane's strength was lessening yesterday. Eugene is expected to pass south of the Big Island on Saturday.
Civil Defense officials on Maui and the Big Island have been meeting with various agencies for a briefing on the weather forecast and to review responsibilities.
"We're monitoring it very closely," Butts said.
Officials also have been monitoring a nagging drought -- one that has persisted in some areas since January 1998 and could become a source of major fires.
The Big Island faced its biggest brush fire in the past two years when some 10,000 to 15,000 acres of brush land burned in south Kohala last week.
Butts said officials are worried about the potential for large fires. "It's something we're watching closely," he said.
Many farmers and ranchers say the drought is causing a major reduction in livestock and crop production.Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., the largest sugar plantation in the state, has delayed planting 2,000 acres because of the drought.
Every acre sitting idle represents lost production, said company agricultural Vice President John Hoxie.
Hoxie said rainfall in May was the second lowest for that month since 1925 and that June and July also were among the lowest for the plantation.
Maui residents living along the slopes of Haleakala from Kanaio to Haiku are under a mandatory 25 percent cutback in water use.
On the Big Island the drought has persisted since January 1998 in Kau, south Kohala and Kona, and the county extended the drought declaration to Hamakua and north Kohala in July.
"We're almost two full years with a drought," said Robby Hind, livestock manager for Parker Ranch.
Hind said that while the company hasn't lost any cattle to the drought, it will be losing about $1.5 million in the next couple of years from having to reduce its breeding herd.
He said the losses could be greater if the ranch doesn't get some rain soon. By October the cows will be having calves and require more than dry grass and molasses to sustain themselves.
Hind said he's hoping there will be some rain as a result of Hurricane Eugene.
The National Weather Service is predicting the hurricane will slowly weaken in the next two days and may turn into a tropical storm.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has sent four reconnaissance aircraft to track Hurricane Eugene.
Weather Service lead forecaster Robert Larson said the Big Island has the best chance of getting rain, probably in the Kau district.
