A Fresno native is hunkered down in Hawaii Monday night, preparing to ride out Hurricane Lowell as the storm moves closer to the islands.<\/p>\n
The hurricane is expected to make its closest approach to the area Monday night into early Tuesday morning, bringing the threat of powerful winds, heavy rain and flooding.<\/p>\n
FOX26 News spoke with Fresno native Jeff Harrington early Monday morning from his home in Poipu, Hawaii.<\/p>\n
Harrington has been sharing video of the conditions, giving us a firsthand look at what it\u2019s like to prepare for a hurricane.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is just the start. We are well away from when the bad stuff comes,\u201d Harrington said in a video shared with FOX26. \u201cIt\u2019s been raining for hours here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Within an hour of that video, Harrington said the rain and winds had picked up.<\/p>\n
Harrington has lived in Hawaii for four years. He said he has experienced big storms before, but nothing like what he is preparing for now.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing similar, no hurricanes,\u201d Harrington said. \u201cThis one\u2019s different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harrington and his wife have been preparing for the storm for about a week. <\/p>\n
He said residents quickly began stocking up on necessities, including food and fuel.<\/p>\n
\u201cImmediately people were going to the store,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, propane\u2019s gone. Shelves are pretty empty of all the necessities that you need to seal your home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harrington said he and his wife have secured their home and moved items away from windows to prevent them from becoming dangerous flying objects.<\/p>\n
The situation became more serious Sunday night when a hurricane warning reached their cell phones.<\/p>\n
Harrington said he has noticed a level of concern among longtime residents that he has not seen before.<\/p>\n
For some, he said, the approaching storm is bringing back memories of Hurricane Iniki, which devastated Kauai in 1992.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou might even call it a bit of the PTSD if they lived through Hurricane Iniki,\u201d Harrington said. \u201cThose thoughts are going through all their heads.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hurricane Iniki struck Hawaii on September 11, 1992, as a Category 4 hurricane.<\/p>\n
The storm had maximum sustained winds of 145 mph, with reported gusts reaching up to 227 mph.<\/p>\n
The hurricane caused an estimated $1.8 billion in damage and killed six people.<\/p>\n
More than three decades later, Harrington says the memory of Iniki remains with many Kauai residents as they prepare for another major storm.<\/p>\n
Despite the threat, Harrington said the community is coming together to help one another.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the great things about taking care of Ohana here on the island is sharing resources,\u201d Harrington said. \u201cPeople share their resources.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harrington said he and his wife have water, food and other supplies ready. They also have a small portable stove they can use if they lose power.<\/p>\n
For now, they plan to stay inside as the strongest conditions move in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Fresno native is hunkered down in Hawaii Monday night, preparing to ride out Hurricane Lowell as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-456601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}