Hawaii prepares for high winds, rain as hurricane nears
A worker puts reinforcements on boarded storefront windows in the Waikiki neighborhood of Honolulu, Saturday, July 25, 2020, as Hurricane Douglas approaches. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)HONOLULU Hawaii prepared for the onslaught of Hurricane Douglas on Sunday, with predictions of high winds, rain and storm surge. Douglas weakened Saturday to a Category 1 hurricane as it approached Hawaii, but officials warned people should not be lulled into complacency. We know that it is weakening as it approaches, but it still will have significant impact on each island, Hawaii Gov. President Donald Trump issued an emergency declaration for Hawaii because of the hurricane, directing federal assistance to supplement state and local response efforts.
Pacific bird refuge struggles as ocean garbage patch grows
In this Oct. 15, 2019, photo, seabirds fly over Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)Flying into the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Midway Atoll appears out of the vast blue Pacific as a tiny oasis of coral-fringed land with pristine white sand beaches that are teeming with life. But Midway is also at the center of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a vast area of floating plastic collected by circulating oceanic currents. The Hawaiian Islands act like a comb that gathers debris as it floats across the Pacific. "The estimates are that there's about 57,000 pounds of marine debris that washes ashore within this part of the archipelago annually," Clark said.
Pacific bird refuge struggles as ocean garbage patch grows
In this Oct. 22, 2019, photo, plastic sits in the decomposed carcass of a seabird on Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)Flying into the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Midway Atoll appears out of the vast blue Pacific as a tiny oasis of coral-fringed land with pristine white sand beaches that are teeming with life. But Midway is also at the center of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a vast area of floating plastic collected by circulating oceanic currents. The Hawaiian Islands act like a comb that gathers debris as it floats across the Pacific. "The estimates are that there's about 57,000 pounds of marine debris that washes ashore within this part of the archipelago annually," Clark said.