By Baron Sekiya/Hawaii247.com

The National Weather Service has forecast numerous rainshowers starting tonight (Aug 7) in Hilo, Volcano, Honokaa and Waimea areas with heavy rainfall possibly starting Sunday night through Tuesday.

The forecast for the Kona, Ka‘u and Kohala areas is for possibly heavy rainfall to start on Monday.

Hurricane Felicia is forecast to reach the Big Island Monday night as a tropical depression. Felicia has been losing strength as it moves closer to Hawaii over cooler waters and is forecast to weaken below hurricane strength when it makes landfall.

National Weather Service Honolulu HI
954 AM HST Fri Aug 7 2009

…The National Weather Service in Honolulu has issued a flood potential outlook for the state of Hawaii…

…Heavy rains and flash flooding possible Monday through wednesday…

The latest forecast from the National Hurricane Center indicates that Hurricane Felicia will weaken to a tropical storm or tropical depression near the Hawaiian Islands. in either case…Felicia could produce very heavy rainfall with possible flash flooding in the Hawaiian Islands. The rain bands may reach the Big Island early on Monday and spread westward across the state.

At this point…there is considerable uncertainty in the locations that will be affected…the onset and duration of heavy rains…and the rainfall amounts that are expected to occur. All of these are dependent on the track felicia ultimately takes.

Stay tuned to NOAA weather radio…local media or the internet at weather.gov/hawaii for the latest information on potential impacts from Felicia.

An updated outlook will be issued at 10 pm HST Friday or sooner if necessary.

For forecasts of all the islands visit the NWS site: www.prh.noaa.gov/pr/hnl