Forecasters say Iona rapidly strengthened into a hurricane in the central Pacific Ocean and is expected to continue trekking toward the west over warm, open waters well south of Hawaii.

Iona emerged on Sunday from a tropical depression and was about 1,440 kilometres southeast of Honolulu, the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami said.View on euronews

The Pacific hurricane season has been busy, with nine named storms and 3-soon-to-be-4 hurricanes, but August is a big month for Atlantic storms.