Kiwis face cyclones in Hawaii

Honolulu resident Stan Nuuhiwa fills his truck with cases of water. Hawaii is bracing for two back to back hurricanes, Iselle and Julio. Photo / AP

As Hurricane Iselle approached Hawaii last night, Kiwi holidaymakers were bracing themselves for a potential stranding on the tropical islands. Air New Zealand has warned passengers that flights may be disrupted this weekend as a result of possible severe weather, but last night its flights were operating to schedule.

The hurricane will pack strong winds and could lash the island with storm surge and heavy rain.

Auckland woman Mikhal Norriss, who was on holiday with a friend in Hawaii, said her package tour ended early yesterday because the tour guide was worried about the storm.

"I was talking to a local woman who said everyone has been stocking up on water and when she was at Walmart they were all out."

Many tour operators had shut down for the weekend, she said.

The hurricane was all tourists and locals were talking about. "All the bars have the weather channel on and the hotels have weather updates and storm warnings in the foyer."

Ms Norriss said her Hawaiian Airlines flight was still scheduled to leave on time today.

Air New Zealand passengers scheduled to depart Auckland for Honolulu at 11am today on NZ10 were warned a decision on whether the flight would leave was likely to be made close to departure time.

The airline had introduced additional ticketing flexibility for passengers booked to travel to and from Honolulu up to August 17.

This week Air New Zealand announced it would set up a special team to fly overseas to deal with large-scale passenger disruptions in the aftermath of the stranding of 227 passengers in Honolulu last week.

The airline was continuing its inquiry into claims that pilots and cabin crew of the stranded Boeing 767 in Honolulu had been drinking and would not have been available for duty at one point, even if the aircraft had been airworthy.

A hurricane warning was issued for the Big Island of Hawaii yesterday.

It is the first hurricane warning issued for the main Hawaiian islands since Hurricane Fernanda in 1993.

If Iselle holds together as a hurricane and makes landfall within the islands, it would be the first hurricane to do so since 1992's Hurricane Iniki.

A second Category 3 storm, Julio, was close on Iselle's tail with maximum sustained winds of 185km/h.