Hawaii Island communities hit by Hurricane Lala are still digging out weeks later, and a new tropical cyclone could wipe out the progress.

• In Naalehu, the main road through the business district is still buried under mud and debris, some of it over nine feet deep.
• Cleanup stops every time it rains because the sites are too dangerous to work in.
• The storm carved new paths for water, so homes and businesses that never flooded before are now at risk.
• Officials have asked the Army Corps of Engineers to study how the flooding patterns changed.
• Residents are writing to the government asking for real action and for lessons from Lala to be applied before the next storm.

Outlook: More heavy rain from the approaching cyclone could undo weeks of cleanup and flood areas no one has mapped as dangerous yet.