HONOLULU — Residents of Hawaii’s Big Island were evacuating animals and stockpiling water Tuesday, bracing for what could be the first hurricane to make landfall in the state in decades.
The National Weather Service issued a hurricane warning as the major Category 3 storm dubbed Madeline hurtled west toward the island, urging residents to rush through preparations to protect themselves and their property and expect hurricane conditions within the next 36 hours.
“Hopefully our roofs stay on, and our houses don’t float way or get blown away,” said Big Island resident Mitzi Bettencourt, who boarded up walls of glass windows at her brother’s oceanfront home. “It’s like, ‘Oh my God, are we going to get flattened or what?'”
Bettencourt, who lives in a subdivision called Kapoho Vacationland, manages several vacation rental properties and has her own home to worry about, which sits a few blocks from the ocean. She and her neighbors were stocking their pantries, stowing away lawn furniture and preparing for power outages.