Iselle made landfall on the southern part of the Big Island ofHawaii near Pahala around 2:30 a.m. local time as a tropical storm,downgraded from a hurricane. There are early reports of flooding,trees down and power outages, and a flash flood warning remains ineffect for all of Hawaii.

Schools, stores and county offices are closed across theislands, and non-essential state employees were told to stay homeas well. There is debris on the roads because of the high winds,and residents and tourists have been encouraged to stay home or intheir hotels. Hawaii Electric Company reports approximately 21,900residents have lost power on Hawaii, and is asking customers tominimize their energy use because of a power generationshortfall.

Mike Cantin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service,says the Big Island could see anywhere from 8 inches to more than afoot of rain. Maui could see 3-5 inches. Oahu and Kauai will alsosee significant rain totals from Iselle, but could be more impactedby Hurricane Julio, which is currently a Category 2 hurricane. Itis expected to be downgraded to a tropical storm by the time itpasses northeast of Oahu and Maui on Sunday.

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said Iselle is tracking to thesouth of Oahu, so Honolulu will not feel the full effect of thestorm. There are 10 shelters open on the island for residents andmore than 95,000 tourists are riding out the storm in hotels alongWaikiki Beach. The city is running 28 buses to bring workers intoWaikiki to serve tourists, but the general message is thatresidents should stay home if possible. There are 10-15 foot waveson the water and high tides at 2:30 p.m. (HST) are expected to bethree feet above normal. All beaches and camp grounds are closed,and residents should stay away from known flood zones.

Chief Darryl Oliveira with Hawaii County Civil Defense said theywill be doing an assessment of damage by air this morning on theBig Island. He said there are trees and power lines down, as wellas some flooding. They are looking to reopen the roads as soon aspossible, but advised people to stay home until they are given theall clear.

Only essential personnel are required to report at the variousmilitary bases across the islands. The U.S. Navy has set TropicalCyclone Condition of Readiness FOUR for the Joint Base PearlHarbor-Hickam on Oahu and the Pacific Missile Range Facility onKauai, since destructive winds of 50 knots or greater areanticipated. On Twitter, FEMA is cautioning residents to stayinside during high winds and stay away from windows.

Jason Princenthal with AirCare Environmental Services, Inc. inHonolulu, was on the Big Island yesterday covering windows andtaping his home near the Volcano National Park area to protect itfrom the storm. He said they've seen a lot of rain, but he had notreceived any updates regarding damage.

While the islands were spared the high winds of a Category 1hurricane, since Iselle did not pass over the Big Island as quicklyas anticipated, flooding will be a much larger issue for residents.The ground will be saturated by the time Julio arrives on Sunday,and there are concerns about mudslides as the water travels downfrom the mountains.

Businesses have been preparing for the storm for several days.BELFOR Property Restoration has been assisting clients withpreparations across the islands. Drew Chamberlain, general managerfor BELFOR's Hawaii office explained that on Oahu, the windwardside of the island often gets the brunt of the wind under normalconditions, and residents there took precautions to board up theirbuildings and gather supplies.

He says that mudslides will be a very real danger after the rainstops because drainage will be an issue for the island. “Canals arenot well defined here, and there are no manmade culverts to divertwater like there are on the mainland. Water follows a naturalcourse here and there are a lot of steep ridges and ranges. Flashflooding happens really fast because of that.” Hard rains arecapable of turning valleys into flood zones with dangerous mudslides.

Chamberlain says trees are already down on Oahu because theground is saturated from the rain. “Even a smaller storm can washaway entire neighborhoods and we're expecting that on the east sideof the Big Island.” Many of the homes in Hilo are the oldest inHawaii. With their single-wall construction, they are not built towithstand high winds and may experience more damage from thestorms.

Recovery efforts and damage assessments will begin as soon asIselle passes through. With operations on Oahu, Maui and Hawaii,the company is equipped to meet immediate needs in terms ofgenerators, cables, dehumidifiers and air conditioners. But sinceeverything needs to be flown to Hawaii from the mainland, gettingsupplies for residents will take time. An ocean shipping companycan carry supplies between the islands in about three days.Shipping supplies from the West Coast can take as long as eightdays; air freight can ship faster, but costs far more.

Despite the heavy rains, damage to the island should be far lessthan originally anticipated. When Hurricane Iniki struck Hawaii in1992 as a Category 4 hurricane, it caused approximately $1.6billion in insured losses. Dr. Robert Hartwig, president of theInsurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) says that loss would beequal to $2.7 billion in 2014 dollars.