Hurricane Lowell tore past Hawaii's Kauai and Niihau overnight as a Category 2 storm, packing sustained winds of 110 mph as its center passed roughly 90 miles west of Lihue — a weakened but still dangerous end to a storm that forced the state's governor to declare an emergency days earlier.

Thousands of customers lost power across Kauai County and Oahu as the storm's outer bands lashed the islands with heavy rain, flash flooding and dangerous surf overnight into Tuesday morning. Niihau and Kauai were forecast to see as much as 12 to 14 inches of rain, with the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency warning that landslides and isolated tornadoes remained possible through the night.

From Category 4 Warning to Overnight Scramble

Lowell had been a far more menacing storm just days earlier, reaching Category 4 and briefly Category 5 strength over the weekend as it churned across the Eastern Pacific before curving north toward the islands. Hawaii's governor declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm's closest approach, and shelters opened on Kauai on Saturday and on Oahu Monday evening as officials urged residents in low-lying and flood-prone areas to hunker down, according to NBC News.

LIFE-THREATENING SURF AND FLASH FLOODING REMAIN POSSIBLE OVERNIGHT

By the time Lowell reached its closest point to the islands, wind shear and cooler waters had knocked the storm down two full categories, sparing Hawaii the direct, high-end hit meteorologists had warned was possible earlier in the week. Direct hurricane strikes on the Hawaiian Islands are historically rare, thanks to those same cooler waters and prevailing wind patterns that typically steer Pacific storms away from the chain — a pattern forecasters said helped spare Kauai from a worse outcome this time as well.

Utility crews were assessing outages across Kauai and parts of Oahu at daybreak, with restoration timelines still unclear in some of the hardest-hit areas. Emergency officials asked residents in Kauai County and on Oahu to remain sheltered through the overnight hours rather than venture out to assess damage, citing continued flood and landslide risk on saturated hillsides.

Lowell is expected to keep weakening as it moves away from the islands later Tuesday, downgrading further as it pushes into cooler waters to the north. State officials said a fuller damage assessment, including any storm-related injuries or structural damage, would follow once crews could safely reach the hardest-hit coastal areas. For now, Hawaii appears to have dodged the worst-case scenario meteorologists had flagged just days ago — but with soaked ground and lingering rain in the forecast, emergency officials aren't declaring the threat over just yet.