HONOLULU (Reuters) - Hurricane Lane, threatening a direct hit as Hawaii’s worst storm in a quarter century, on Thursday churned toward Oahu, the island with the largest population, as schools, government offices and business closed and residents stocked up on supplies and boarded up homes. Hurricane Lane, classified as a powerful Category 4 storm, was packing sustained winds of up to 145 miles per hour and is expected to dump as much as 20 inches of rain, triggering flash flooding and landslides, the National Weather Service (NWS) warned. "Even though the eye is south of the Big Island, we are seeing excessive rainfall already affecting the islands," weather service meteorologist Gavin Shigesato said from Honolulu. However, the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System says the storm “can have a low humanitarian impact based on the maximum sustained wind speed, exposed population and vulnerability.”

9.10am update: Residents urged to hunker down with emergency supplies until the storm passes

Dangerous, -force winds are expected to hit Big Island and Maui on Thursday, the National Weather Service said, while Oahu remains under a warning and Kauai was on a hurricane watch meaning it could face such conditions starting Friday morning. On the island of Lanai, it was eerily dead still and gray, said Nick Palumbo II, who owns Lanai Surf School and Safari. They urged those needing to use the Molokai shelter to get there soon because of concerns the main highway on the south coast of the island could become impassable. As of late Wednesday, Lane, with maximum sustained winds at 145 mph, was about 235 miles from the Big Island of Hawaii and moving on a northwesterly course at 7 mph to pass close to the islands Thursday and Friday, according to the National Weather Service. While the exact path of Lane remains uncertain, CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri says the storm could weaken as it nears the islands. "Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion," the NWS Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu said in an advisory. But even as forecasters warned of the approach of dangerous winds, most people in Honolulu were relatively calm about the possibility of being hit by the first hurricane since Hawaii's statehood in 1959. The most powerful hurricane on record to hit Hawaii was Category 4 Iniki, which made landfall on Kauai island on Sept. 11, 1992, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Federal Emergency Management Agency moved several barges packed with food, water, generators and other supplies into the region ahead of Hurricane Hector, which skirted past the islands more than a week ago, FEMA Administrator Brock Long said. U.S. President Donald J. Trump issued a disaster declaration Wednesday, authorizing the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to co-ordinate disaster-relief efforts with the state.
Hurricane Lane causes flash flooding, and threatens a direct hit towards Hawaii as it passes through Oahu. Over 19 inches (48 cm) of rain has already fallen in some areas.