Portal:Tropical cyclones/Featured article/Hurricane Iwa

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Hurricane Iwa, taken from the Hawaiian language name for the frigatebird (ʻiwa), was, at the time, the costliest hurricane to affect the state of Hawaiʻi. Iwa was the twenty-third tropical storm and the twelfth and final hurricane of the 1982 Pacific hurricane season. It developed from an active trough of low pressure near the equator on November 19. The storm moved erratically northward until becoming a hurricane on November 23 when it began accelerating to the northeast in response to strong upper-level flow from the north. Iwa passed within 25 miles of the island of Kauaʻi with peak winds of 90 mph on November 24, and the next day it became extratropical to the northeast of the state.

The hurricane devastated the islands of Niʻihau, Kauaʻi and Oʻahu with wind gusts exceeding 100 mph and rough seas exceeding 30 feet in height. The first significant hurricane to hit the Hawaiian Islands since statehood in 1959, Iwa severely damaged or destroyed 2,345 buildings, including 1,927 houses, leaving 500 people homeless. Damage throughout the state totaled $308 million (1982 USD, $644 million 2006 USD). One person was killed from the high seas, and three deaths were indirectly related to the hurricane's aftermath.

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