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Climate11 outlets ran this5 min read

Hurricane Lala downgraded to tropical storm after hitting Hawaii, leaving 200,000 without power

At least 100 homes were damaged and two swept away as the storm moved west-northwest at 26 kph

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published
Hurricane Lala downgraded to tropical storm after hitting Hawaii, leaving 200,000 without power

What this story says

  • Over 200,000 utility customers across Hawaii lost power after Hurricane Lala weakened to a tropical storm on 16 August 2026.
  • At least 100 homes were damaged, and two were swept away by floodwaters, according to the National Weather Service.
  • A tropical storm warning remained in effect for Kauai County, while warnings for Maui and Oahu were discontinued.
  • About 117 people were in shelters as of Sunday morning, and one fatal car accident was reported.

Who covered it

Left 11%(1)Centre 33%(3)Right 56%(5)

Percentages are shares of the 9 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 2 of the 11 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

82/100

Craft

68/100

Hype

21/100

11 sources · methodology

Thin on the left so far

Only 1 of the 9 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

Hurricane Lala weakened to a tropical storm after passing Hawaii’s Big Island on 16 August 2026. More than 200,000 utility customers were without power at midday, though outages on Oahu had decreased from over 220,000 to around 130,000 by Sunday morning. State officials reported at least 100 homes damaged, and the National Weather Service confirmed two homes were swept away by floodwaters.

The storm moved west-northwest at 26 kph with maximum sustained winds of 105 kph, just below the hurricane threshold. A tropical storm warning remained in effect for Kauai County, while warnings for Maui and Oahu were lifted earlier in the day. Hawaiian Electric said repair efforts were hampered by fallen trees and flooded roads.

About 117 people were in shelters as of Sunday morning. State officials urged residents to stay indoors after one fatal car accident was reported. All airports in Hawaii were reopened, but travellers were advised to check with airlines for updates.

Disagreement on power outage figures

Rappler reported that 219,000 customers were without power at 12:05 pm on 16 August. Channel News Asia said 183,123 customers remained without power as of 3:30 pm the same day. The Times of India digest mentioned "approximately one hundred eighty-four thousand residents" without power, though this figure does not appear in the other reports.

What the coverage left out

None of the right-rated digests mentioned the two homes swept away by floodwaters, as confirmed by the National Weather Service. The fatal car accident reported by state officials was also omitted from all right-rated digests. The left and centre reports included both details.

Tags:#HawaiiStorm#TropicalStormLala#USWeather#PowerOutages#ClimateCrisis

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 6 times, most recently on 17 Aug 2026, 06:15, and will add the sides that appear.

How other outlets pictured it

Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.

A resident carries supplies during Hurricane Lala in Hawaiian Ocean View, Hawaii on Aug 15, 2026. (File photo: AP/Stephen Lam)
Channel News AsiaCentre

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

1 rated outlet

  • The left-rated report from Rappler led on the scale of power outages, stating that 219,000 customers were without power at midday. It included the governor’s statement that at least 100 homes were damaged and quoted a state official describing flash floods "like we’ve never seen". The report also noted the death of one person in a car-related accident and the number of people in shelters.
  • Rappler used the phrase "battered Hawaii’s southern areas" to describe the storm’s impact and quoted an official saying, "It’s not a day to go to the beach." The report included the National Weather Service’s confirmation that two homes were swept away.

Centre

3 rated outlets

  • Both centre-rated reports, from Channel News Asia and kimt.com, led on the number of customers without power, citing 183,123 outages as of Sunday afternoon. They reported that tropical storm warnings for Maui and Oahu had been discontinued, while a warning remained in effect for Kauai County. Both included the governor’s statement on home damage and the number of people in shelters.
  • Channel News Asia’s full report noted that Lala was moving west at 20 mph with sustained winds of 65 mph, just below the hurricane threshold. It quoted a state official describing flash floods as "like we’ve never seen" and included the National Weather Service’s confirmation that two homes were swept away. The report also mentioned the fatal car accident and the reopening of airports.

Right

5 rated outlets

  • The five right-rated digests all led on the storm’s departure from Hawaii and the scale of power outages. The Times of India and Latestly digests mentioned over 200,000 people without power, while The Straits Times and KTEN digests cited more than 180,000. All five noted that at least 100 homes were damaged, and some mentioned ongoing rescue operations hampered by floodwaters and landslides.
  • The Times of India digest described the storm’s impact as leaving a "trail of destruction", while Latestly and Tribune India digests quoted CNN’s report that the storm’s eye was pulling away from Kauai. None of the right-rated digests mentioned the two homes swept away by floodwaters or the fatal car accident.

Read it at the source

11 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

1

Centre

3

Right

5

Not rated

2

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Hurricane Lala downgraded to tropical storm after hitting Hawaii…?
Of the 9 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 11% are rated left, 33% are rated centre, 56% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 11. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Hurricane Lala downgraded to tropical storm after hitting Hawaii… left or right?
Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 9 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
Is the coverage of Hurricane Lala downgraded to tropical storm after hitting Hawaii… biased?
Hurricane Lala downgraded to tropical storm after hitting Hawaii, leaving 200,000 without power is one event reported by 11 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting Hurricane Lala downgraded to tropical storm after hitting Hawaii…?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered Hurricane Lala downgraded to tropical storm after hitting Hawaii…?
11 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
How many people were without power after Tropical Storm Lala?
Over 200,000 utility customers across Hawaii were without power at midday on 16 August 2026, though outages on Oahu had decreased to around 130,000 by Sunday morning. Reports varied, with some citing 183,123 outages later in the day.
What damage did Tropical Storm Lala cause in Hawaii?
At least 100 homes were damaged, and two were swept away by floodwaters, according to the National Weather Service. State officials also reported one fatal car accident and flash floods described as "like we’ve never seen".
Which counties in Hawaii remained under a tropical storm warning?
A tropical storm warning remained in effect for Kauai County after warnings for Maui and Oahu were discontinued on 16 August 2026. The storm was moving west-northwest at 26 kph with sustained winds near 105 kph.

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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