HONOLULU: Torrential rain pounded Hawaii yesterday as Hurricane Lane, now downgraded to a tropical storm, slowly skirted the Pacific state, dumping enough rain to trigger landslides and “catastrophic” flooding, reports AFP.

By 0900 GMT, Lane was located some 135 miles (220 kilometers) south-southwest of the capital Honolulu and crawling towards it at just three miles per hour.

The storm’s outer bands were “producing severe flooding across parts of the Hawaiian islands,” the Central Pacific Hurricane Center said.

Lane, which could spawn isolated tornadoes, “will produce excessive rainfall this weekend, which could lead to additional flash flooding and landslides,” it warned.

Currently packing winds of 65 miles per hour, the storm was expected to turn west, away from the Pacific islands by late Saturday.

Heavy rain from the slow-moving storm “will continue to impact the Hawaiian islands into the weekend, leading to catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding and landslides,” the National Weather Center said.