Rains lash Big Island;
Oahu heat hits record

While Honolulu burned under the hot sun yesterday, residents on the south and west sides of the Big Island cooled off under intense rains.

Current Hawaii weather

The National Weather Service issued a flash-flood warning through 8:30 last night for all of the Big Island.

But don't expect Oahu to cool off soon. Hot and humid days with temperatures getting into the 90s are likely to last into next week, National Weather Service forecasters said.

On Monday, the temperature in Honolulu hit a record of 92 degrees, breaking the old record of 91 degrees set in 1995. Yesterday's high temperature was 92 degrees again, one degree shy of the record 93 degrees for this date and the highest recorded temperature for the month of August. The average daily temperature in August is 89 degrees.

National Weather Service lead forecaster Bob Farrell said there's no relief in sight from the hot weather.

"It's hot, there's no question about that," Farrell said.

He said lighter-than-normal tradewinds and a lack of cloud cover are what's causing temperatures to go into the 90s.

Hawaiian Electric Co. spokesman Jose Dizon said electricity use reflects the hotter weather. On Monday, peak daytime use was 1,253 megawatts, he said. One megawatt will supply 500 to 600 homes with electricity. Normal usage is about 1,200 to 1,220 megawatts.

The hot weather also led to heavy rain on the Big Island. Daytime heating caused clouds to build up in the mountains and afternoon showers and thundershowers, causing minor problems, Hawaii County Civil Defense said.

With its doors right at street level and flood waters flowing down the street, the lobby of the historic Manago Hotel in South Kona got a brief soaking shortly after 5 last night, Civil Defense said.

That happened once before and the hotel was ready with sandbags, diverting the water after about 15 minutes, said owner Dwight Manago. No real damage was done, he said. Water just drained through the floor of the wooden structure, built in 1929, Manago said.

Two houses near Konawaena High School also asked for sandbags, Civil Defense said.

On the other side of the island in Kau, the Hawaii Belt Road was closed by flooding for about an hour at Hilea, south of Pahala. The road was reopened at 6:18 p.m. There were no injuries.