Hurricanes
Little is known about the early history of hurricanes hitting Hawai‘i. Records before the advent of satellites and air travel are sketchy. Past events described as "hurricanes" sometimes did not conform to the modern definition: a warm-core tropical cyclone with maximum sustained one-minute mean surface winds of 64 knots or 74 miles per hour or greater.
Before 1950, several severe windstorms striking Hawai‘i were called hurricanes but are now regarded as probable Kona storms or other lesser events. One such so-called hurricane devastated Lahaina, Maui, in February 1850, killing five or six persons aboard the sailing vessel Sophia, destroying 100 homes, including the king's palace, and blowing down more than 5,000 banana trees. In December 1918, another so-called hurricane with sustained wind speeds of 53-55 miles per hour and gusts of 85 struck Honolulu, resulting in one death and $500,000 in damage. Neither event is now deemed a true hurricane.
The earliest blow in the historical record now thought to have been a hurricane, strictly defined, struck North and South Kohala on the Big Island and Lahaina on Maui in August 1871, blowing down about 150 houses and causing damage estimated at $5,000.
The first named hurricane to reach Hawai‘i was Hiki, in August 1950. Damage was centered on Kaua‘i, where sustained winds at Kilauea Lighthouse averaged 68 miles per hour. One person died at Kohala, on the Big Island. Losses were estimated at $200,000.
Since Hiki, seven major hurricanes have hit the Islands: Della and Nina in 1957, Dot in 1959, Fico in 1978, Iwa in 1982, Estelle in 1986, and Iniki in 1992. Of these, Iniki was by far the worst, with peak gusts measured at 143 miles per hour, direct and indirect deaths numbering eight, and almost $2 billion in damage.