HONOLULU, July 30 (UPI) -- Tropical Depression Flossie brought driving rains across the Hawaiian island chain but was expected to further disintegrate in the next couple of days.
Flossie, with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph, was about 65 miles north-northwest of Honolulu and 270 miles northwest of Hilo, moving west-northwest at 18 mph, the Honolulu Forecast Office of the National Weather Service said in its 11 p.m. HDT advisory Monday (5 a.m. EDT Tuesday).
Forecasters said Flossie was expected to remain on its forecast path for the next 48 hours and should weaken during the forecast period.
Tropical storm-force winds were expected from Maui County to Kauai County, with locally gusty winds forecast for Tuesday.
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Locally heavy rainfall was forecast into late Tuesday night, bringing with it the threat of life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.
Dangerous high surf will affect east-facing shores, but was expected to subside Tuesday night.
Flossie began whipping Hawaii late Monday, spreading torrential rain and scattered power outages across chain, CNN reported.
"Hunker down," Alan Arakawa, the mayor of Maui County, said in an interview with KITV, Honolulu. "We're just starting to get the heavy rain coming in."
Even though the system was weakening, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said city officials were still concerned about its potency.
"We'd really like people off the road in their homes, taking care of their loved ones and their neighbors," Caldwell said.
Wind gusts knocked out electricity to about 10,000 customers of Hawaiian Electric Light Cos. sporadically during the day, primarily on Maui.
At Honolulu International Airport, some carriers canceled or delayed flights before the storm arrived, but flight schedules were returning to normal as the storm moved on, CNN said.
Gov. Neil Abercrombie signed an emergency proclamation Sunday.
The Maui News reported many government offices, ferries, schools and parks were closed in advance of the storm, which originally was forecast to bear down directly on Maui.
Michael Cantin, a warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said Maui's leeward could see "beneficial" rains for drought-plagued areas.
