Flood Watch — Kona; Kohala; Big Island Interior; Big Island Summit; Big Island South; Big Island Southeast; Big Island East; Big Islan was recorded by Global Incident Tracker on Sunday, 27 September 2026 at 02:48 UTC. The event is classified as a flood incident with a severity rating of Severe, and was detected through the US National Weather Service (NWS).
Flood Watch issued September 26 at 4:48PM HST until September 27 at 6:00AM HST by NWS Honolulu HI Hurricane Nolo is now south-southeast of the Big Island and beginning to move more quickly off to the west. The possibility of heavy rain could lead to localized flooding over portions of the Big Island through tonight. * WHAT...Flash flooding caused by excessive rainfall is possible. * WHERE...The Big Island. * WHEN...Through late tonight. * IMPACTS...Flood prone roads and other low lying areas may be closed due to elevated runoff and overflowing streams. Urban areas may receive more significant flooding and property damage due to rapid runoff. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS... - The possibility remains for localized flooding over areas of the Big Island due to heavy rain from Hurricane Nolo to the south-southeast of the Big Island. Areas most at risk for flooding are the windward and southeast
Where this happened
The incident is located in United States (North America), whose capital is Washington, D.C.. Historically, United States is most affected by hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, earthquakes and floods. You can follow every incident recorded in this country, updated live, on the United States incident tracker.
Approximate coordinates of the reported event are 37.100°, -95.700°. The marker on the map above shows this position; for news-derived reports the location reflects the place named in media coverage and may represent a district or city rather than an exact site.
Understanding flood events
River, flash, urban and coastal flooding events. Flood damage depends less on total rainfall than on how fast water arrives and where it has to go. Flash floods in urban areas can rise within minutes because sealed surfaces stop absorption, while river floods build over days and allow more warning time.
How severity is rated
Global Incident Tracker rates every event on a four-step scale — Minor, Moderate, Severe and Extreme — derived from the source signal: earthquake magnitude, official GDACS alert colour, or the volume of independent media reporting for news-derived incidents. This event is currently rated Severe. Ratings can change as more information becomes available, and a rating is a monitoring signal rather than an official government assessment.
Safety guidance for flood situations
- Never walk or drive through floodwater — 15 cm of moving water can knock you down and 60 cm can float a car.
- Move to higher floors or higher ground early; do not wait for water to reach you.
- Switch off electricity at the mains if water is entering the building and it is safe to reach.
- Treat all floodwater as contaminated: wash hands, boil drinking water and clean wounds.
- Follow only official instructions from local authorities and emergency services — this page is a monitoring record, not an emergency alert.
Data and verification
This record was generated automatically from the US National Weather Service (NWS) and de-duplicated against our archive. Early reports for any incident can be revised: locations get refined, magnitudes are recalculated and impact figures change as assessments arrive. We deliberately do not publish casualty numbers unless an official source states them. The original source report is linked at the top of this page.
Keep watching the situation on our live world incident map, browse every floods we track on the Flood tracker, or see today's global picture on the incidents today page.
Timeline and sources
Official warning
Issued by U.S. National Weather Service. A warning or forecast describes a hazard; on its own it is not a report that harm occurred.
How statuses are decided · the number of reports is never treated as confirmation.
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· received · event time 27 Sep 2026, 02:48 UTCFirst report Official warning
First recorded from U.S. National Weather Service.
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· received · event time 27 Sep 2026, 03:26 UTCAlso reported Official warning
Also reported by U.S. National Weather Service: "Flood Watch — Kona; Kohala; Big Island Interior; Big Island Summit; Big Island South; Big Island Southeast; Big Island East; Big Islan"
Times are when this site received each report, in UTC; the event time is shown where the source gave one. 2 reports are attached to this incident. Copies of one syndicated story count as one report.
Conditions at the time
No rainfall was recorded that day, and the temperature peaked at 30°C. Conditions are shown for context only — they do not establish a cause.
Weather reanalysis for this location and date via Open-Meteo.