LOS ANGELES, United States, Aug 26, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Hone, a Category 1
hurricane, brushed past Hawaii's largest island on Sunday, bringing heavy
rain and dangerous swells, the US National Hurricane Center said.

The Pacific storm, with maximum sustained winds of 80 miles (130 kilometers)
per hour, was "gradually moving away from the Big Island," the agency said at
11:00 am local time (2100 GMT).

"Tropical storm conditions will continue on the Big Island into the early
afternoon, with gradually diminishing wind and rainfall through the evening,"
the agency said.

The storm was expected to bring between three and eight inches (7.6 to 20.3
centimeters) of rain over the major island of Hawaii and its surrounding
smaller islands.

Local TV station KHON2 said beaches had been closed and emergency shelters
opened, while poweroutage.us reported more than 23,000 customers of the
Hawaiian Electric Company were without power.

The NHC warned that the storm was "producing life-threatening surf and rip
current conditions" on coastlines.

Behind Hone, whose name is Hawaiian for "sweet and soft," was Hurricane
Gilma, a more powerful Category 3 storm on the five-level Saffir-Simpson
scale.

Gilma was still some 1,365 miles from Hawaii, and expected to weaken, the
hurricane center said.