Weather 
Hurricane Lala weakened to a tropical storm Sunday after its eyewall skirted Hawaii without making landfall, but it continued to punish the Big Island with hurricane-force gusts and relentless rain, reaching a total of nearly three feet (one meter) in places and sending raging torrents down mountainsides.
A search-and-rescue mission including Civil Defense, the National Guard and a Coast Guard helicopter was launched after flash floods apparently swept several occupied homes off their foundations in the coastal communities of Na’alehu and Wai’ohinu, near the island’s southern tip, authorities said.
“What makes this very challenging is that there’s rushing water, there’s debris, and there’s boulders on the road and it’s dark,” Hawaii County Mayor Kimo Alameda said early Sunday.
At least one person died in a vehicle wreck in the South Point area of the Big Island, Gov. Josh Green said Saturday.
Honolulu was bearing the brunt of Sunday morning’s weather as tropical storm conditions spread westward across the island chain. Honolulu Fire Department had launched dozens of weather-related responses by 2 a.m. local time Sunday, including 58 reports of downed trees, 39 blown roofs, 12 downed power lines, 12 arcing-wire situations and one swimmer rescue, according to a statement from the city.
A flash flood warning blanketed the state, according to the National Weather Service. Heavy rain, mudslides, downed trees, active flooding and downed power lines were among the biggest threats, weather service meteorologist Stephen Parker said early Sunday.
“Basically, the best thing to do right now is just stay home for a bit longer,” he said. “The storm won’t last forever and once those kind of threats get cleaned up, it will be safe to be out and about again.”
More than 200,000 homes and businesses were without power Sunday morning across Hawaii’s three largest islands, according to the utility tracker poweroutage.us. At least three hospitals were operating on generator power, the governor said.
Powerful waves pounded the Big Island’s coast as Lala slowly passed by. Just missing landfall, its eyewall didn’t weaken, and its winds pounded the mountainsides. Waterways swelled with fast-moving runoff as bands of rain blew nearly sideways.
What’s next for Lala
Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Oahu, Kauai and Niihau, raising the possibility of destructive flooding and even wildfires kicked up by strong winds on the drier sides of the islands.
The heaviest rain Sunday morning was falling on Lanai, Moloka’i and Oahu, while the highest winds were gusts over 100 mph (161 kph) at the towering Mauna Kea volcano on the Big Island, Parker said.
As of 5 a.m. Sunday in Hawaii, Lala was centered about 75 miles (125 kilometers) south of Honolulu and its tropical-storm-force winds extending as much as 140 miles (220 km) from its center.
Forecasters expect Lala to regain hurricane strength midweek once it’s well west of the island chain.
Some higher-altitude places on the Big Island, dominated by Mauna Kea, have been hit with as much as 35 inches (89 centimeters) of rain. That’s enough to loosen steep slopes where some of the 210,000 islanders live off the grid in improvised housing.
As the hurricane approached, shelters were opened, events were canceled and ranchers were urged to leave their cattle in pastures rather than structures that might collapse. Many residents are still dealing with the aftermath of devastating floods in March and were taking precautions.
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Associated Press writer Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu contributed.
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