Tropical Storm Iselle battered Hawaii with driving winds and rising surf on Friday, knocking down trees and causing power outages, the first of two major storms due to hit the archipelago as the more powerful Hurricane Julio gathered steam behind it.
More than 1,200 people flocked to evacuation shelters across the Big Island, according to County of Hawaii Civil Defense, as heavy rains and strong winds pummeled areas of East Hawaii from the Puna area to the town of Hilo.
Hawaii Electric Light Company had about 5,000 customers without power, mostly in East Hawaii, a Hawaii County official said.
With its eye still about 50 miles (80 km) south of Hilo, on the Big island, Iselle had weakened from a hurricane to a tropical storm, packing maximum sustained winds near 70 miles per hour (110 kph), with higher gusts, the US Central Pacific Hurricane Center said in a statement about an hour before midnight on Thursday.
