MEDIA RELEASE

Hawaii County Civil Defense audio message

This is a Civil Defense message. This is a Tropical Storm Fernanda, High Surf and King Tides update for Friday morning July 21 at 10:30 a.m.

The National Weather Service reports Fernanda is located about 755 miles east of Hilo moving west northwest at approximately 12 mph. For those tracking, Fernanda was located near latitude 18.6 N, longitude 143.6 West at 4:50 a.m.

Tropical Storm Fernanda continues to weaken and is expected to become a tropical depression by tonight. At this time, maximum sustained winds are near 45 mph with higher gusts.

In addition, the National Weather Service reports large storm swells and unusually high tides may cause dangerous surf and flooding conditions along east facing shores of Hawaii Island through the weekend.

Because of the unusually high tides forecast and large storm swells from Fernanda, the following precautions should be taken:

• Ocean front residents, beachgoers, and boat owners along east facing shores are advised to be on the alert for high surf, strong currents and flooding.
• As a precaution, consider postponing ocean activities until these hazards are over.
• Special caution to the coastal areas of Kapoho during the high tide periods of mid to late afternoon hours.

Again, the National Weather Service reports Fernanda continues to weaken and is expected to become a tropical depression by tonight. Large storm swells generated by Fernanda in combination with high tides may cause dangerous surf and flooding conditions along east facing shores of Hawaii Island from now through the weekend.

Civil Defense will continue to monitor conditions. Should any threat develop, this radio station will be informed.

Thank you for listening, have a safe day, this is your Hawaii County Civil Defense.