In the hamlet of Naalehu, the floods of Hurricane Lala opened graves. One mother sought desperately for her son.

© Meghan Miner Murray

The storm narrowly missed land, but its outer bands left the Big Island with power outages, road closures and flooded homes.

© Bruce Omori for The New York Times

Storm that brought heavy rains and winds left one person dead and more than 100,000 without power and damaged at least 100 homes and bridges

Hawaii residents began to clean up after tropical storm Lala blew past the Big Island, leaving more than 100,000 without power, damaging at least 100 homes and bridges and leaving one person dead.

Lala was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it grazed the islands, but it brought heavy rains and winds to the Big Island. Hawaii’s total rainfall over 48 hours topped 3.5ft in some areas, according to AccuWeather. The rising flood waters damaged or swept away about 100 homes in the area, along with six bridges.

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© Photograph: Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle/AP

© Photograph: Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle/AP

© Photograph: Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle/AP

Storm expected to strengthen to hurricane as state of emergency declared amid danger of ‘life-threatening’ floods

Tropical Storm Lala is set to hit Hawaii’s Big Island with hurricane force in a matter of hours, bringing dangerous winds, heavy rainfall and high surf in a sign of what a strengthening “super” El Niño in the Pacific may bring.

The tropical storm is currently about 420 miles (675km) south-east of Hilo on the archipelago’s largest island, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) said in its latest advisory, packing winds of 60mph (97km/h). Lala is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane as it approaches the Big Island.

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© Photograph: CSU/CIRA & NOAA/Reuters

© Photograph: CSU/CIRA & NOAA/Reuters

© Photograph: CSU/CIRA & NOAA/Reuters