Hawaii’s Big Island begins recovery efforts as Hurricane Lala downgrades, moves west

HONOLULU - Damage assessments and clean up efforts began on Aug 16 as Hurricane Lala, which was downgraded to a tropical storm overnight, rolled past Hawaii’s Big Island and kept dumping heavy rain across the US Pacific state’s archipelago.At a news conference on Aug 16, Hawaii Governor Josh Green said officials are still investigating whether any storm-related deaths had occurred.“We’re praying that there are essentially no fatalities. The question is a difficult one to answer in some ways,” Green said, noting that there was a “terrible car accident” that could have been storm-related, and “we often have a person found every couple days that may be houseless on the street, who may have passed away”.Additionally, Hawaii Emergency Management Director Randy Collins warned the storm may have