Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Forecasters said Nolo's outer bands could cause life-threatening flooding and mudslides, with parts of the Big Island possibly getting up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain. Heavy rain also was expected on the other islands.

More than 120 National Guard members were activated, part of roughly 400 statewide after the governor issued an emergency proclamation. U.S. President Donald Trump recently approved an emergency declaration, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate assistance and provide funding support.

National Hurricane Center specialist Elizabeth Adams said Monday that Nolo was closing in on Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, a marine conservation area northwest of the islands.

“We are expecting conditions to rapidly deteriorate near that national monument," she said.

Power outages persist on Maui, with over 10,000 households and businesses lacking electricity Monday morning, according to poweroutage.us, primarily on the west side of the island.

Most of the outages were related to storm damage, according to statements from Hawaiian Electric. High winds of over 60 mph (96.5 kph) Sunday prevented helicopters from flying over mountain ridges this weekend to assess transmission line damage, the utility said, adding that it expected the outages to persist until midday Monday.

The utility this weekend also de-energized lines around a brush fire that broke out Saturday, prompting evacuation orders several miles south of Lahaina town, the site of the 2023 deadly fires. Those evacuation orders were lifted Monday morning.

Hawaii residents are still recovering from Hurricane Lala, which produced heavy rain and winds strong enough to sweep about 100 homes off their foundations on the Big Island.

(Associated Press)

70 DAYS ADRIFT AT SEA

Three Bougainvilleans have reportedly been rescued after 70 days lost at sea.

The three, who were traveling from Nissan Island to Buka, went missing at sea on 18 July. They were located and rescued by an overseas vessel, according to an NBC Bougainville report.

"The three were traveling by boat to Buka when their vessel ran out of zoom, leaving them without propulsion and at the mercy of ocean currents," the report said.

It said the Autonomous Bougainville Government worked with the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre and Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in coordinating search and rescue efforts.

The three have reportedly been transported to Kiribati for further assistance.

According to NBC Bougainville, further details of the rescue, including the name of the vessel that found them, their exact location when rescued, and their current condition, are yet to be confirmed.

"The missing vessel was described as a floater dinghy with a yellow top, powered by a 60-horsepower Yamaha engine.

"After about 70 days adrift, the three have now reportedly been located by an overseas vessel and rescued."

NBC Bougainville said the rescue had brought relief to their families and communities in Bougainville, who had spent more than two months waiting for news of the two young men and a woman.

(RNZ Pacific)

PACIFIC MARITIME TRAGEDIES

As the Pacific Islands region reels from a series of recent maritime tragedies, a regional climatologist says it is imperative that boat operators take extra caution in a time of turbulent weather.

There have been dozens of fatalities from incidents at sea in recent months in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu among other Pacific countries.

Although an official or confirmed death toll is not yet known for Vanuatu's MV Matui tragedy from two weeks ago, it is likely that dozens of people died.

A common factor in this and other maritime tragedies in the Pacific over recent months has been rough seas and weather conditions, and coincides with a time when the El Niño phase is getting into full swing across the Pacific.

El Niño has caused extreme heat in parts of the world, extensive drought in the Western Pacific and disruptions to ocean currents through the tropical Pacific.

A senior climatologist with the Pacific Regional Environment Program Philip Malsale said El Niño has created a lot of movement of warm waters towards the Eastern Pacific, as a high pressure system moves up closer to the equator, with an active monsoon trough over the Western Pacific as well.

But he told RNZ Pacific that El Niño was not necessarily directly to blame for the rough seas and marine conditions in which various boats have got into trouble.

"We are in the winter season when we have the strong trade winds that are persistent at this time of the year.

"We have the high pressure system move up to the towards the equator, and we have dominant southeast trades (tradewinds), those kind of systems can also cause high pressure gradient over the countries, and it influences a lot of the weather synoptic situations across the countries like Tonga, Vanuatu, Fiji, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea."

MAN’S BODY FOUND

Samoa Police have launched an investigation after a man’s body was found on the small sandbar off the coast of Palolo Deep Marine Reserve in Vaiala on Sunday afternoon.

“Sa’o lelei. O le tino maliu o se tamā” Acting Police Commissioner Leiataua Samuelu Afamasaga confirmed.

He said there were no visible injuries, but the Coroner has ordered a post-mortem examination to establish the cause of death.

“There were no visible injuries on the body of the deceased, but the Coroner has ordered a post-mortem examination to determine the cause of death,” the Acting Police Commissioner said.

Samoa Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner, Tanuvasa Petone Mauga, said FESA had received a call from the Taumeasina Island Resort team who called it on Sunday afternoon.

“A report was received stating that a body was visible on the sand, and authorities immediately headed to the scene,” he said.

(Samoa Global News)

MOTHER RESCUED IN PNG

A young mother who gave birth to triplets in a remote part of Papua New Guinea was successfully evacuated, but all three of her babies died before help could reach them.

Manolos Aviation carried out this morning's emergency medical evacuation from the Onga-Waffa in Markham District, bringing the mother into Morobe Province's capital, Lae, shortly after 10am before she was taken to hospital for further treatment.

The woman had given birth prematurely to triplets at about eight months into her pregnancy.

Despite the efforts of health workers at the local health facility, all three babies died within hours of each other. The clinic had limited resources and was unable to provide the level of specialised neonatal care required by the premature babies.

Manolos Aviation chief executive and pilot Captain Jurgen Ruh said the outcome could potentially have been different if the medevac team had received the emergency call earlier.

"None of the babies survived. One of the babies died last night and the other two died this morning at nine o'clock," Captain Ruh said.

The tragedy again highlights the difficulties faced by mothers and newborn babies in remote parts of Papua New Guinea, where geographical isolation, poor transport links and limited medical resources can turn complications during childbirth into life-threatening emergencies.

For Manolos Aviation, the case also carries echoes of an earlier evacuation involving another mother of triplets.

In May 2017, the company evacuated 25-year-old Rose Andy and her newborn triplets - two boys and a girl - from the remote village of Sikami in Obura-Wonenara District, Eastern Highlands Province.

The mother was suffering serious complications following the birth and was bleeding when the call for assistance was made.

Captain Ruh and a medevac nurse flew into the remote community, stabilised the mother and babies and transported them to Angau General Hospital in Lae. All three babies survived, and after four weeks at Angau, the family was cleared to return home.

Manolos Aviation's medical evacuation work has since expanded considerably, with its MAMA Medevac program providing emergency air transport for patients from some of the country's most isolated communities.

One of its most high-profile recent missions involved conjoined twins Tom and Sawong, who were born at Braun Memorial Hospital in Finschhafen in October 2025.

Within two days of their birth, Manolos Aviation evacuated the twins to Angau Memorial Hospital before they were eventually transferred to Australia for highly specialised medical treatment.

Doctors later carried out a complex separation operation in Sydney. Tom, who had severe medical complications, did not survive, but the operation saved Sawong.

(RNZ Samoa)