Flash flooding throughout Hawaii with weather warnings

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Marco Garcia/AP

The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said the weather had knocked out power and cut off access to some roads, though there were no storm-related deaths as of 2 p.m. Monday afternoon. Still, officials warned the storm, which began over the weekend, remained a threat.

Late on Monday, Gov. David Ige signed an emergency declaration for the entire state, freeing up state funding for the emergency response.

Some areas saw up to 14 inches of rain, according to preliminary rainfall totals from the National Weather Service.

The system — known as a “kona low” — struck the Big Island, Maui and Molokaʻi on Sunday and moved westward over the populous island of Oahu on Monday and Tuesday morning.

Public parks in Honolulu, as well as the Honolulu Zoo, closed due to the weather, and four emergency shelters on the island were opened for residents impacted by the storm.

Hawaii’s climate office has said that as the state gets drier it rains less often, but when it does rain the storms are heavier. That can lead to landslides, runoff, algae blooms and catastrophic flooding, which carries economic and public health risks.

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