At least one dead, tens of thousands without power and over 100 homes damaged in wake of Hurricane Lala in Hawaii

By Dalia Faheid, Karina Tsui, Chris Boyette and Kate S. Petersen, and Meteorologists Tyler Ory and Dakota Smith

(CNN) — At least one person has died in Hawaii after Hurricane Lala swept south of the state over the weekend, bringing torrential rain that touched off destructive flooding.

In the wake of the storm, officials discovered the body of a 90-year-old woman who “perished in the flood,” Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said at a news conference Monday. The woman had been reported missing in a neighborhood in the south of the Big Island and rescue crews from multiple agencies, including the National Guard, were dispatched to the search effort, officials said.

Lala, now a tropical storm, has moved away from Hawaii and is going west over the open Pacific. The storm’s last few bands of rain departed Kauai early Monday, giving residents and officials across the islands space to deal with its aftermath.

Exceptionally heavy rainfall, over 3 and a half feet of it in the Big Island’s mountains, set off landslides and flash floods that wiped out roads on the island and swept at least one home entirely off its foundation. Maui’s mountainous areas saw up to 2 feet of rain.

Over 100 homes were “damaged and lost” in the storm on the island of Hawaii, also known as the Big Island, Green said Sunday.

About 100,000 homes and businesses are still without power across the Hawaiian islands as of Monday afternoon local time, according to PowerOutage.com, after hurricane-force wind gusts swept across Hawaii, Honolulu and Maui counties.

Power restoration in some areas could take days or longer as major transmission lines were down, Mayor of Hawaii County Kimo Alameda said in a Sunday afternoon news conference. Main lines must be repaired on the Big Island, Maui and Oahu, according to utility company Hawaiian Electric.

Hawaii’s state and county offices, schools, courts and judiciary offices were closed Monday. County buildings, state buildings and schools on the Big Island will remain closed through Tuesday “at least,” Green said, citing severe damage to some schools and widespread remaining power outages where the storm hit hardest.

Lala, which strengthened to a Category 1 storm Saturday, made its closest approach to Hawaii’s Big Island at around 5 p.m. local time, with its eyewall brushing the southern portion from roughly 30 miles away, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Tropical storms approaching Hawaii typically hit cooler ocean temperatures before reaching the islands, but Lala remained over warmer water due to an ongoing marine heat wave extending to California and a developing Super El Niño.

Lala unleashed destructive flash flooding

Winds from the hurricane knocked down trees and damaged roofs, but “it’s the flood and the mud and the rock that poured through” communities in the Big Island’s south area that caused the real damage, the governor said Monday.

Videos obtained by CNN show streets flooded by torrential rainfall on the Big Island.

In the Kaʻū area, floodwater pushed at least two homes off their foundations, Volpe said. One of the homes was carried a few hundred yards away and a woman attempting to reach her vehicle outside the home was also swept up, he said. She was taken to the hospital with “moderate injuries.”

The second home was “shoved” partly off its base, Volpe said, noting the information is based on eyewitness accounts and authorities are still determining what happened.

An ambulance crew responding to a reported emergency on the island became stranded when their truck was overtaken by floodwater and pushed up against a guard rail, Volpe said. The crew escaped by climbing on top of the ambulance and then into a National Guard high-water vehicle that had accompanied them.

Mangled power lines, roadways and bridges

A record number of road closures and prolonged power outages were reported on the Big Island, according to Alameda. Six bridges were destroyed or “almost destroyed” in the Kaʻū area, Alameda said, describing it as “devastation.”

Farther south, a “river of water” went through the Naalehu area, washing away “quite a lot,” Green said Sunday.

In the southeastern side of the Big Island, parts of the Pāhala Highway collapsed overnight into Sunday –– cutting off critical access to an area where one of the region’s only hospitals is located.

Green said the wreckage on the highway created a new waterfall and caused damage to small bridges, while also cutting off power. Aerial footage of the highway shows parts of it destroyed by what appears to be a massive landslide.

Deborah Funai Brown, a lifelong resident of Pāhala, told CNN affiliate KHNL/KGMB that she witnessed a highway collapse, calling the event — which has left up to 2,500 residents trapped — “catastrophic.”

“We’ve always been stuck in the middle of nowhere so you kind of feel forgotten about when you’re out here, like you’re on an island by yourself,” Brown told the outlet.

The collapse occurred after floodwaters from the Pa’au’au Stream breached a rock wall and surged onto the highway, causing it to buckle.

Many roads across the county continue to be closed due to downed trees, utility lines and landslides, according to the mayor’s office.

“While road crews are working hard to clear debris as conditions allow, we need all residents and visitors to heed all warnings, move into safe shelter, and stay off the roadways,” Alameda said.

Hawaii is under a statewide brown water advisory due to the possibility that contaminated stormwater could make its way into coastal water and streams.

In Honolulu County, crews conducted about 160 ocean rescues between Friday and Saturday evening, according to a post from Mayor Rick Blangiardi. EMS also treated three people who fell off or through their roofs during the storm while reportedly attempting to repair damage, the post said. “More than 30 blown roofs” were reported on Oahu as of Saturday evening, according to the post.

Randy Collins, director of emergency management for the city and county of Honolulu, urged residents to be extra careful once the storm has passed and cleanup starts.

“Many casualties happen after the disaster … As people are cleaning things up, they’re working with heavy equipment, chain saws, generators, they’re working around downed power lines and so forth. That’s when the casualties come,” he said. “I just want to encourage everyone as they are cleaning up to ensure that you are doing so in a safe manner.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Nic F. Anderson, Amanda Jackson, Cindy Von Quednow, Karina Tsui and Andrew Freedman contributed to this report.