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

Hurricane Iona was expected to move westward and does not pose any land threat to the Hawaiian Islands, forecasters said.