This tends to kill the few storms that do turn back toward the east. Click here for more on these storms. While a hurricane-strength storm has never been known to hit the California coast, at least one tropical storm and several tropical depressions have. In these cases, drenching rain has done most of the damage to California, Arizona or other parts of the Southwest. Some of these storms have sent flooding rain as far east as the central Mississippi Valley.
Hurricanes are very rare in Hawaii and usually are relatively weak by the time they arrive.
But, as Hurricane Iniki showed in 1992, these storms can threaten lives and do millions or even billions of dollars in damage. The eastern Pacific hurricane season runs from May 15 through Nov. 30. The National Hurricane Center in Miami handles forecasts for the area from the Pacific Coast west to 140 degrees west longitude. The Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu handles storms from 140 degrees westward to the International Date Line. Some storms that form in the eastern Pacific cross 140 degrees into the central Pacific region, but they keep their eastern Pacific name.