Hungarian tourists stranded because of hurricane Lane

Hurricane Lane arrived on Hawaii this Thursday, with storming wind and rain, floods and a sea of mud. On just the Eastern part of the island, it took only 24 hours for 510 millimetres of precipitation to fall, with strong winds blowing 80 kilometres per hour – reports nlcafe.hu. Fortunately, no injuries have been reported of so far; locals were advised only to leave their homes if it comes to evacuation. Hungarian tourists who are on the island at the moment are safe, according to the reports of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Hurricane Lane hit Hawaii islands

“The situation is really dangerous. Do not go anywhere unless absolutely necessary.”

This was the Twitter message of David Ige, governor of Hawaii, who advised locals to have 2 weeks worth of food, water and medicine, in case of emergencies. People had to be evacuated at various sites on the islands of Molokai and Maui, and there was also news about instances of the power outage. Every school and government agency – apart from the essential ones – were closed on Oahu and Kauai islands. Many shops closed up earlier than usual, while flights have been cancelled and coast guards closed ports in front of incoming ships.

Right now, Lane is heading North, with a speed of 10 kilometres per hour.

Lane scores 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale and can be accompanied by winds as strong as 192 kilometres per hour, according to meteorologists’ warnings.

Moreover, according to the American hurricane centre’s data, the storm can raise water levels by 1-1.5 metres on the Western coast of the biggest island.

President of the United States, Donal Trump, declared most of the islands to be in an emergency state. What this means is that local authorities can access large sums of federal financial aids at short notice.

Hungarian tourists presently in Hawaii

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Hurricane Lane causes Katalin Csiszár, the Hungarian honorary consul of Hawaii, to be in close contact with Hungarians living in Hawaii as well as with Hungarian tourists currently there.

So far, 14 Hungarians turned to Csiszár to seek advice, most of them tourists. However, they are all fine and not in immediate danger.

No one contacted the appointed Hungarian consulate for help.

A couple stuck in Honolulu opened up to Zoom.hu. They have tickets to fly home on Monday; however, it is almost sure that their flight will be cancelled and all the flights before that have sold out their tickets.

“It is possible we will need help, considering our hotel reservation will be up but flights can be cancelled.”

Zsolt also added that they are scared of being flooded, as their hotel is only 30 metres away from the sea. However, hotel staff have been instructed to notify all guests, including the Hungarian couple staying on the 24th floor, if the weather turns too dangerous to stay in the hotel.

“We hope it will not come to that. We are optimistic and try not to panic. We are waiting to see whatever happens next.

The worst part is the waiting, though. It is hard to sleep as well, for people who are not used to situations like this.

It is hard to deal with the unfamiliar and quite stressful.” – said Zsolt and his partner.

Photo: MTI/AP/Bruce Omori

Source: nlcafe.hu