'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
From the empty shores of Oahu's Waikiki Beach to the snowy summit of the Big Island's highest peak, an unusually strong winter storm is clobbering the Hawaiian Islands and raising the threat of dangerous flash floods, landslides and crashing tree limbs.
The strong storm over the nation's only island state left eloping couples without weddings and tourists stuck indoors. It also threatened the state's infrastructure with a deluge of rain and wind.
Five boys between the ages of 9 and 10 were rescued from a raging creek by Honolulu Fire Department workers, a statement from the agency said.
Weather officials warned that slow-moving thunderstorms, high winds and heavy rains could persist through Wednesday and Gov. David Ige issued a state of emergency for all of the state's islands Monday night.
Veterans and survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor 80 years ago planned to meet for the anniversary celebration Tuesday morning at Pearl Harbor. Navy spokesperson Brenda Way told The Associated Press in an email Monday that she has heard of no discussion of canceling the event because of the storms.
The National Weather Service said the storm brings the threat of "catastrophic flooding" in the coming days as a low pressure system slowly moves from east to west and lingered on the edge of the archipelago. The storm knocked out power in communities across Hawaii and the worst of the rain was just arriving in the state's most populous island of Oahu Monday evening.
"Now is the time to make sure you have an emergency plan in place and supplies ready should you need to move away from rising water," Ige said in a statement.
On Oahu, where four shelters had been opened, most of the beaches in Waikiki were empty Monday as only a few people walked with umbrellas during passing heavy showers. Roadways were flooding in the area and cars crept through downtown as water gushed out of manhole covers.
On Maui, power outages and flooding already have been reported, with more than a foot (30 centimetres) of rain falling in some areas.
The relentless rain forced three couples from the U.S. mainland to postpone their Maui elopements, said Nicole Bonanno, owner of Bella Bloom Floral, a wedding florist and boutique in Wailea.
The weather also led to delayed flower deliveries, a lei company with no power and employees braving flooded roads littered with debris, Bonanno said.
"The roads, everything are a mess," she said. "There are lots of trees down."
Maui resident Jimmy Gomes was waiting for the lights to come back at his home on Monday after losing power at 6 p.m. Sunday. His rain gauge measured 7 inches (17.78 centimetres): "I haven't seen this kind of rain in a long time," he said.
"Last night the wind was howling," he said. "But this morning, it came in really foggy and it rained, then it stopped."
Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth declared a state of emergency Sunday for potentially heavy rainfall and strong winds.
Some areas south of Hilo were hit hard with extremely heavy rain over the weekend, weather officials said.
All islands still face the threat of flash flooding, lightning strikes, landslides and strong winds over the next two days, according to the National Weather Service.
Oahu and Kauai could see the brunt of the storm Monday and Tuesday. But for Maui and the Big Island, which have already been soaked, "it's not going to take a lot of additional rain to really lead to big problems," National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration meteorologist Robert Ballard said.
The winter weather system known as a "Kona low" prompted emergency alerts throughout the weekend while delivering wind, rain and even blizzard conditions at some of Hawaii's highest elevations.
A weekend blizzard warning was issued for the state's highest peak, on the Big Island.
Snow is not rare at the summit of Mauna Kea, which is nearly 14,000 feet (4,270 metres) high. The last time there was a blizzard warning for the summit was in 2018. No residents live at the summit, but there are telescope observatories and other offices where officials work.
The weather service said there were reports of 8 inches (20 centimetres) of snow on the road below the top of Mauna Kea, and officials were working to get to the summit to get more measurements. The forecast was for a foot of snow at the mountain's peak.
There were also strong winds, with gusts of nearly 90 mph (138 km/h) recorded atop Mauna Kea.
Other areas at lower elevations also saw strong winds, with gusts above 50 mph (80 km/h) recorded at several locations across the state, according to weather officials.
Kona low is a type of low pressure system that forms near Hawaii during the winter season, and it has some unique meteorological characteristics, said Ballard, the National Weather Service's science and operation officer in Hawaii.
"What we tend to see are a tremendous amount of tropical moisture gets drawn up from equatorial regions. Kona lows tend to move slowly and so they can keep heavy rain and thunder showers focused over one area for a prolonged amount of time, and they can also cause pretty strong to damaging winds," Ballard said.
Hawaii has aging dams across the state that have been problematic during previous storms. In 2006, an earthen wall of Kauai's Kaloko Reservoir collapsed during heavy rain and sent a wave of water and mud rushing down a hillside. Seven people, including a pregnant woman, were killed.
Rainfall in March caused fears that a dam had breached on Maui when floodwaters destroyed homes and inundated roadways. The same storm system brought damaging floods to Oahu and a landslide on Kauai.
Ballard said other state and federal agencies monitor dams, but that these are the conditions that people need to be cautious of.
"It's just a situation that we need to continue to monitor and be aware of and make sure that folks understand that this is the type of situation where we can get flash flooding that happens very, very suddenly," Ballard said.
------
Associated Press writer Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu contributed to this report.
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
The World Health Organization is likely to issue a wider warning about contaminated Johnson and Johnson-made children's cough syrup found in Nigeria last week, it said in an email.
Canada called for 'all parties' to de-escalate rising tensions in the Mideast following an apparent Israeli drone attack against Iran overnight.
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
The World Health Organization and around 500 experts have agreed for the first time on what it means for a disease to spread through the air, in a bid to avoid the confusion early in the COVID-19 pandemic that some scientists have said cost lives.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
Group of Seven foreign ministers warned of new sanctions against Iran on Friday for its drone and missile attack on Israel, and urged both sides to avoid an escalation of the conflict.
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.