Hawaii suffers its worst flooding in 20 years and forecasters warn more rain is coming

They’re not gonna get FEMA relief, and I’ll give You one guess why

Why didn’t Dawn Chang, a Hawaiian native who has direct responsibility over the dam, do anything to maintain it over the years? It’s been under the states leadership since the 80s. What is with this theme of spending billions on xyz and barely anything on infrastructure?!? And when it’s too late leadership is like oh shit, now we need a ton of money all the sudden to fix this!

Still recovering from the fires in Maui and now Oahu in trouble. Ugh.

My dad's house got 28" in 24 hours during Irma, 0/10 wouldn't recommend

That's about how much Denver gets in a year. Thats insane.

That’s what she said!

Nope been there done that. It’s terrible

you gotta prepare for things like that

(that's what she said)

The museum in the postal office in Lahaina (now burned down unfortunately and those artifacts lost) had a lot of very informative history on how the "f*** you, I got mine" attitude of some Hawaiians with power granted by assertation of land ownership they could sell to white people also contributed. And as someone who lives in Vancouver (Washington, not B.C. but same namesake), seeing General Vancouver pop up in their history as someone who fucked up that region too was crazy

They spew their toxicity everywhere. Maggots

Hawaii kinda gets a pass from republicans because of the millitary bases there.

Yes. It’s causing a major heat wave here in Los Angeles. I was just lamenting what it must be doing to some other part of the country/world

One probable contributing factor to increasingly erratic weather patterns is the disruption of the jet stream, which appears to be pushing moisture-laden weather systems much farther toward the poles than was historically typical. This disruption is likely not caused by any single force, but rather a combination of climate drivers. El Nino and La Nina are the most well known, but they are by no means the only ones at play. Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow plumes of concentrated water vapor stretching from the tropics. They are thought to carry roughly 90% of all atmospheric moisture from the equatorial region toward the mid-latitudes. [1](https://dailygalaxy.com/2025/10/atmospheric-rivers-are-moving-in-unexpected-ways-and-the-consequences-are-likely-to-be-devastating/) Research suggests they have likely been shifting poleward over the past four decades, with activity appearing to increase at higher latitudes while decreasing closer to the subtropics. [2](https://theconversation.com/atmospheric-rivers-are-shifting-poleward-reshaping-global-weather-patterns-240673) El Nino and La Nina probably influence this in opposite but equally destabilizing ways. La Nina's cooler Pacific sea surface temperatures tend to push the jet stream northward, while El Nino's warmer temperatures tend to amplify and pull it southward, making Southern California a more frequent target during those years. However, the jet stream is also thought to be weakening independently due to Arctic amplification, a process where the Arctic warms faster than the tropics, reducing the temperature gradient that keeps the jet stream stable and fast-moving. [3](https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/climate-change-the-jet-stream) This likely makes it more prone to slowing, bending, and in some cases partially breaking off entirely, a phenomenon known as a cut-off low, or Kona Low near Hawaii. A Kona Low forms when a deep kink in the jet stream sinks southward and pinches off, leaving behind a slow-moving low-pressure system cut off from the main jet. These systems draw in moisture-laden air from the south and can stall for days, reversing normal wind patterns and funneling deep tropical humidity into areas unaccustomed to it. [4](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11468922/) This is not theoretical. Hawaii has just experienced this firsthand, twice in the same month. A second Kona Low in as many weeks triggered what Governor Josh Green called the worst flooding Hawaii had seen in 20 years, causing widespread damage across Oahu. [5](https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2026/03/21/live-storm-briefing-governor-emergency-officials-provide-updates-kona-low-brings-severe-flooding-threat/) The storm is estimated to have caused over $1 billion in damage, affecting airports, schools, roads, homes, and a hospital on Maui, with around 5,500 people placed under evacuation orders. [6](https://www.npr.org/2026/03/20/nx-s1-5755105/hawaii-evacuations-flooding-dam-failure) Experts note that the intensity and frequency of heavy rainfall events in Hawaii have likely increased alongside human-caused global warming. [7](https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/20/weather/hawaii-flooding-oahu-climate) A similar pattern likely contributed to the heavy rainfall Southern California experienced in late 2025. A persistent low-pressure system camped off the West Coast, stretching farther south than would be typical for autumn, tapped directly into deep tropical moisture from around Hawaii, what is commonly referred to as the Pineapple Express, and funneled a series of atmospheric river storms into California, with some areas recording around 10 inches of rain by early December alone. [8](https://watchers.news/2026/03/11/powerful-kona-low-hawaii-march-2026/) Looking ahead, both NOAA and Australia's Bureau of Meteorology have indicated that El Nino conditions may begin developing again in late 2026, with NOAA's Climate Prediction Center putting a 62% chance of El Nino emerging between June and August 2026. [9](https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodisc.shtml) If that occurs, the knock-on effects would likely push global temperatures to record highs in 2027, consistent with what happened following the 2014 to 2016 and 2023 to 2024 El Nino events. The baseline, as climate scientists increasingly note, appears to have shifted. The atmosphere is measurably hotter and more energetic than in pre-industrial times, and that change likely permeates every weather pattern we observe, including the ones unfolding in Hawaii right now. [7](https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/20/weather/hawaii-flooding-oahu-climate)

Different island, that was Maui. This is Oahu. Still upsetting.

which island? oahu and maui are being hit hardest. if he’s on big island, we’re looking okay (crossing fingers).

most areas of the islands are fine. don't worry

Different island. Besides he has a hurricane bunker anyway.