Schools and parks close, shelters open as Hawaii's Big Island nervously awaits hurricane

HONOLULU — Hurricane Flossie roared on course to brush Hawaii's Big Island later today, hours after worried residents were rattled by a 5.4 magnitude earthquake and dozens of aftershocks.

Schools closed and shelters opened in anticipation of the hurricane, which this morning was downgraded to a Category 2 with top sustained winds of 110 mph and was expected to pass as close as 100 miles from the Big Island.

Forecasters said it would lash the shores with strong winds, up to 10 inches of rain and waves up to 20 feet. Locals and tourists were warned to stay away from beaches until the hurricane is well past; the remote southern part of the Big Island is expected to be hardest-hit, not the popular tourist town of Kailua-Kona.

All public and private schools on the Big Island were closed today. Local and state parks were closed as were some trails, campgrounds and the roads in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, because of the hurricane's potential impacts. Access roads to Mauna Kea volcano and South Point, the southernmost point of land in the U.S., also were closed.

Some skittish tourists canceled reservations on the Big Island; hotels, airports and tour companies were receiving hurricane updates. To add to the nervousness, an earthquake 25 miles south of Hilo on Monday night caused a small landslide, and more than two dozen aftershocks followed.

Hurricane alerts

In response to the hurricane, the Federal Emergency Management Agency dispatched a 20-person advance emergency response team to Hawaii, which arrived Monday in hopes of easing the blow of the storm, spokeswoman Kim Walz said.

The National Weather Service placed the Big Island under a hurricane watch and a tropical storm warning because of the storm, which was supposed to affect the island through Wednesday. A flash flood watch was also issued for the island.

Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle signed an emergency disaster proclamation, which activates the National Guard. Hawaii Island Mayor Harry Kim also declared a state of emergency Monday as a precaution.

The Big Island is largely rural, with about 150,000 people, and most live in the west or northeast, not the southern portion expected to be hit hardest by the hurricane. Other islands are expected to get much less wind and rain.

At 11 a.m. today, Flossie was about 190 miles south-southeast of Hilo and 370 miles southeast of Honolulu, the Central Pacific Hurricane Center said. The storm was moving west-northwest at about 11 mph.

Hurricane-force wind of at least 74 mph extended outward up to 40 miles from the center of the storm, while tropical storm force wind of at least 39 mph extend outward up to 145 miles.

Meteorologists cautioned that even a slight change of course could bring the storm closer to land.

"This is too close for comfort," said National Guard Maj. Gen. Robert Lee, the state adjutant general.

The last time a hurricane hit Hawaii was 1992, when Iniki ravaged Kauai, killing six people and causing $2.5 billion in damage.