Fred Mata and Masako Uehara wait for a senior citizens bus on a wet Hilo morning. Tim Wright • Special to The Advertiser

By 8 a.m. today, approximately 2 to 4 inches of rain had fallen over windward areas of the island, the National Weather Service reported. In the previous 24 hours, Waimea received almost 8 inches of rain, Kamuela and Honokaa about 6 inches, and Piihonua, which is near Hilo, about 5.3 inches.

At 8:35 a.m., a flash flood warning was in effect for northearn, eastern and southern areas of the island and was expected to remain in effect for two hours. A flash flood watch also was in effect until 4 p.m. for all of the Big Island and Maui.

The heaviest rainfall appeared to just miss Ka'u, falling offshore and south at a rate of 4 to 6 inches an hour. But some rain was still falling on the upper slopes of the area this morning.

Weather service lead forecaster Bob Farrell said the storm was moving south.

The rain came from a band of moisture that stretched east to west, Farrell said. It was moving south at roughly 10 mph. Storm cells within it were moving west at 30 mph, dumping rain along the way.

Forecasters expected conditions to have improved by this afternoon, but they could not say that with certainty because clouds had obscured some of their satellite photographs, Farrell said.

About a dozen schools, including charter and Hawaiian language schools as well as both campuses of Kamehameha Schools in Keaukaha and in Kea'au, were closed for the day. The Hawai'i Island Adult Care Center at Rainbow Falls also was closed.

Public schools, other than charter schools, remained open, according to Bill Davis, Big Island Civil Defense administrator.

Utility officials were busy restoring service today. "We have pockets of interruptions around the island," said Jay Ignacio of Hawai'i Electric Light Co.

Many traffic lights were knocked out by strikes of lightning.

The storm began around midnight and persisted through dawn with loud claps of thunder that awakened many residents.

Meanwhile, police reported streets from Waimea's Lakeland subdivision to Puna's Orchidland Estate were closed, including East Kawailani in Hilo, where design work is being done for a bridge damaged during flooding in November 2000.

The Hawaii Belt Road was reduced to one-way traffic at North Hilo's Laupahoehoe gulch because of a landslide that had to be removed by state highway crews.