Residents of the Hawaiian island of Kauai were preparing over the weekend for heavy rain and strong winds while trying not to let the approach of Hurricane Lowell derail their holiday plans.
Lowell, a Category 3 storm late Sunday, was expected to pass near the Hawaiian Islands as early as Monday evening. Forecasters estimated that it could bring two to 10 inches of rain statewide, with isolated totals of up to 14 inches possible in some areas of Kauai and Hawaii’s Big Island.
None of that affected Lehua Lanning’s baby shower for her first child — a girl who could arrive any day now.
The celebration went ahead as scheduled Saturday evening under an open-air pavilion at a beachside park on the east side of Kauai. Reggae blared from a speaker as about 100 guests dined on local fare served from aluminum pans: kalua pig, smoked meat, ribs and lots of rice.
“It was either now or never,” Ms. Lanning, 21, said as she rubbed her belly, which was stretching a pale-pink tube dress. “I am worried about her coming in the middle of a storm.”
Rain had begun falling on Sunday afternoon. Kauai officials were bracing for the storm and urged residents on Sunday to stay home as conditions worsened.
Kauai County was under a hurricane watch Sunday evening, meaning hurricane conditions were possible within 48 hours. County parks and campgrounds were closed, and officials opened five shelters.
Kauai’s annual marathon, scheduled for Sunday morning, was canceled. Even though Sunday’s overcast skies, with pockets of blue, created ideal running conditions, organizers decided late Saturday afternoon to cancel after the National Weather Service issued a tropical storm watch. It was upgraded the next morning to a warning and then later ramped up to a hurricane watch.
In a social media post, organizers said they were “crushed” to have to cancel but did so after the county said it couldn’t provide support, including road closures. Water, ice and finish-line food would be donated to the community, they said.
Ava Behnen, who flew to Kauai from Hawaii’s capital city of Honolulu, had planned to run 26 miles to celebrate her 26th birthday.
She was disappointed, but added, “Safety comes first and I totally understand.”
For many residents of Kauai, memories of Hurricane Iniki, which devastated the island in 1992, are still vivid.
Shanti Oga, who attended Ms. Lanning’s baby shower, was 8 years old when Iniki struck, and she said she remembers fleeing her family’s beachfront home as water flooded in.
“It was pretty devastating,” said Ms. Oga, now 39. “We survived it because we moved to higher ground.”
Even though Lowell was taking a similar northward turn toward Kauai, Ms. Oga said she wasn’t worried or scared.
“It’s expected when you live on an island,” she said, especially on Kauai, where abundant rainfall contributes to its nickname as the “Garden Island.”
Before attending the party on Saturday, she made sure her family’s generator had fuel and that they had plenty of ice stored. Lines at stores and gas stations have been long in recent days.
Thomas Nizo, 55, a lifelong Kauai resident, said Iniki spared no part of the island. Some homes on the island’s south side were erased, he said, and tidal surge washed out a main highway.
Kauai is better prepared now, he said, but canceling the marathon on Sunday was helpful for those residents who needed roads to be open so they could shop for supplies or stock up on food.
Last month, Hurricane Lala battered the Big Island, and some communities on the southern side of the island were cut off.
Mr. Nizo said that if something similar were to happen on Kauai this week, it would be easy to cook if the electricity went out because firewood is abundant in Makaweli, where he lives. There are also plenty of goats and pigs to hunt in nearby woods, and fish to catch in the ocean.
“My house is on the beach so we literally can go fish,” he said.
Mr. Nizo, who is Native Hawaiian, said some in the community have been shipping supplies to the nearby island to the west, Niihau, which is owned by the Robinson family and is home to about 60 or 70 Native Hawaiians.
Niihau is projected to be the closest to the center of the storm, officials said on Sunday.
The county has been in daily contact with the Robinson family, Kauai’s emergency management administrator, Elton Ushio, said at a news conference on Sunday afternoon. “It’s a very resilient community,” he said.
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