Hawaii weather sounds like paradise to most of us, with seemingly endless sunshine and tropical breezes.
But on Aug. 6, 1959, 66 years ago today, Hurricane Dot slammed into Kauai, damaging homes, uprooting trees, knocking out power, flooding roads and destroying crops across the island about 115 miles west-northwest of Honolulu.
The Cat 1 hurricane produced wind gusts to 75 mph in Lihue, Kauai’s county seat, and possibly gusts to 100 mph elsewhere on the island, according to the U.S. Navy’s official summary. Up to 35-foot waves pounded Kauai’s south coast, pushing debris onto coastal roads.
While Kauai was declared a major disaster area, there were no fatalities from Dot. It certainly could have been much worse. Dot was just far enough south at Cat 4 intensity when it brushed past South Point on the Big Island. Then at Cat 3 intensity, it curled north just late enough to avoid more serious impacts in Maui and Oahu, other than soaking rainfall.
This took place about two weeks before Hawaii officially became a U.S. state on Aug. 21, 1959.
Unfortunately, Kauai was struck by two more damaging hurricanes decades later. Cat 1 Iwa nailed the island in November 1982 ($234 million damage). Almost 10 years later, Hawaii’s costliest hurricane, Iniki, clobbered Kauai at Cat 4 intensity in September 1992, with over $2.3 billion in damage.
(MORE: Hawaii’s Hurricane History)
Hurricane Dot Hawaii 1959
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
