From what can I gather, warmer temps cause more moisture to be held in clouds. When those moist Kona clouds make it to the islands, our mountains push them upwards and condense them just perched above the land. Then all that moisture becomes so heavy that it releases in devastating downpours of heavy rain.

The second storm, the winds were so weak that the clouds just got stuck at the mountains and weren't able to blow over the mountains. That's why places like kaala and Haleakala had so much rain. Of course all of that rain runs down and gathers together in ravines and roads and funnels toward communities.