Hawaii’s recovery efforts begin as Hurricane Lala downgraded, moves west

HONOLULU - Clean-up efforts were underway on Aug 16 as Hurricane Lala, which was downgraded to a tropical storm, rolled past Hawaii’s Big Island and dumped heavy rain across the US Pacific state.Hawaii Governor Josh Green told a news conference that officials are still investigating whether there had been any storm-related deaths.“We’re praying that there are essentially no fatalities. The question is a difficult one to answer in some ways,” Green said.He added 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”.Hawaii Emergency Management Director Randy Collins warned there were still dangers to face in coming hours even though the storm had passed.“M