The utility suggests that residents turn their refrigerators to the coldest settings so that if power goes out, food will keep longer. HECO also suggests turning off unnecessary equipment, making sure people who need life-support machines have a working alternative, and staying away from fallen electrical wires.

HECO issued its warning yesterday after O'ahu Civil Defense and the National Weather Service advised that windward O'ahu and Kaua'i could get raked with 60-mph wind gusts.

The wind will be out of the south and should pick up strength early tomorrow and last through Sunday as the front passes over O'ahu and Kaua'i, according to the National Weather Service.

Heavy thunderstorms also are in the forecast, prompting warnings from the weather service and O'ahu Civil Defense.

Tonight, the wind is expected to begin blowing at 15 to 20 mph.

By New Year's Eve, high elevations and areas at the base of the Ko'olaus on O'ahu could feel the brunt of the storm and the 60-mph gusts.

"We see on the satellite a vigorous storm system coming towards us," said Hans Rosendal, a forecaster with the weather service. "On New Year's Eve, everybody will feel the effect of the southerly winds and the rainfall."

In January, a storm with gusts of up to 85 mph hit O'ahu, snapping 19 utility poles along Kamehameha Highway just outside Wahiawa. Nearly 70,000 electricity customers on O'ahu lost power.