Powerful Hurricane Lowell makes a rare direct hit on Hawaii as conditions worsen, power outages skyrocket

Fox News Weather ^ | 9/8/2026 | Raymond Sanchez , Julian Atienza

[Pontiac]

Powerful Category 2 Hurricane Lowell made a rare direct hit on Hawaii's western islands Monday night Hawaii time, with rain and wind continuing to intensify as state officials report thousands of power outages on both Kaua'i and Oahu, the state's most populous island.

While the storm's center is not expected to make landfall, the definition of a direct hit is when a hurricane passes within a distance that is up to twice the length between the center of the storm and the maximum winds, which in Lowell's case is 60 miles.

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More than 60,000 customers are without power on Kaua'i and Oahu combined, according to poweroutage.us

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TOPICS: Local News; Miscellaneous; Society; Weather
KEYWORDS: hawaii; hurricane; storms

[Whatever Works]

We lost power for 20 hours in the last power outage. It was bad everywhere on many islands. Fortunately, Lowell didn’t hook to ward Kauai as Iniki did and it dropped in category strength. I grew up in Florida. I’m used to hurricanes. This one mostly petered out before it could do a lot of damage. We were lucky.

[libertylover]

From the title, I was expecting to read about a Cat 4 or 5. Raised in Miami in the 60s and 70s, I know what a “powerful hurricane” is. This measly Cat 2 is not it.

I know what you mean because I lived on the coast about halfway between Jacksonville and Miami for 33 years. But the storm that probably did the most damage wasn't a hurricane at all. It was Tropical Storm Fay, which dumped about 20-25 inches of rain on us. My house wasn't flooded, but it made me worry a bit.

[pfflier]

Use of the word “rare” needs to be more rare. It has happened before and will again.