Hurricane Flossie batters southern Hawaii

Hawaii's largest island shut schools and closed down tourist sites and roads on Tuesday as category-three Hurricane Flossie, the first hurricane to batter the region in 15 years, swept just to the south.

At 2:40pm Tuesday (0040 GMT Wednesday) Flossie was about 260km south of Hilo on Hawaii island, the largest of the sprawling archipelago's islands, blowing maximum sustained winds of 170km/h.

The storm, classified as "dangerous," was headed west-northwest at 15Km/h and expected to weaken over the next 24 hours.

Storm surges, flooding and surf of up to 7.6m threatened some coastal areas but most of the state would miss the brunt of the storm. The storm bore down on Hawaii's "big island" on Monday just as it was hit by an earthquake!

The 5.4 magnitude tremor struck at 7:38pm local time (0538 GMT), about 40Km south of Hilo. The Honolulu Star Bulletin reported that the quake was felt island-wide and caused a landslide, but no injuries or major damages.