Hawaii was preparing for its first hurricane to make landfall in decades later Thursday or Friday and for a second hurricane on Sunday, dpa reported. The National Weather Service warned that the Big Island of Hawaii would likely take the brunt of the first hurricane due to strike, the Category 1 storm named Iselle. Heavy rains, high surf and damaging winds up to 128 km/h were expected, the private forecaster AccuWeather said. Maui and Oahu, the other major islands, were on a tropical storm watch with lesser winds. But flash floods could hit the entire US state by Friday. The two hurricanes were churning to the east of the Pacific Ocean archipelago. Hurricane Julio was still about 2,000 kilometres east of Hawaii, with winds of 165 km/h, the National Hurricane Center said. It did not give it a category rating. Hawaii has been directly hit by hurricanes only three times since 1950, according to the Honolulu Star Advertiser newspaper. The most recent, in 1992, killed six people and destroyed more than 1,400 homes. CNN meteorologists said the Big Island was especially suseptible to flash flooding because of its high mountains, which will send the heavy run-off into lower altitudes and cause mud slides. -- SPA 20:35 LOCAL TIME 17:35 GMT تغريد
