Catastrophic storm to bring flash floods to Hawaii

Residents of Hawaii's Big Island brace for another potentially catastrophic storm, as tropical storm Nolo is expected to bring flash flooding

and extreme surf while passing south of the islands over the weekend.

(Reporter) Tell me, are you guys concerned about the storm coming in here?

Yeah, I watched this morning and they said that we're supposed to get heavy rains. I think they said like three feet of rain, something like that. And I was like,

what? We better do this then. That's a lot of rain.

(Reporter) So what are you out here doing today then?

Just getting some sandbags for an area that floods. Yeah, we want to try to protect it.

Air travellers hoped to get home before the storm caused flight cancellations at Hilo International Airport Friday.

This woman said she was trying to get to Oahu but the airline ticketing shut down due to the storm.

Nolo is expected to strengthen to a major hurricane on Saturday. Its maximum sustained winds increased to 165 kilometres per hour Friday.

Forecasters warned parts of the Big Island could see rainfall totalling up to 38 centimetres with a possibility of up to 64 centimetres.