convection had all but dissipated. Walaka turned towards the northeast, steered by an upper-level trough. Walaka transitioned into an extratropical cyclone around 12:00 UTC on October 6 after having been deprived of thunderstorm activity. The extratropical cyclone tracked over the open sea and dissipated by 18:00 UTC on October 7. Preparations and impact As Walaka approached the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, a hurricane watch was issued for Johnston Atoll on September 30 and was upgraded to a hurricane warning on October 1. Early on October 2, a hurricane watch was issued for Nihoa to French Frigate Shoals to Maro Reef. Later in the day, a hurricane warning was issued for French Frigate Shoals to Maro Reef and a tropical storm warning was issued for Nihoa to French Frigate Shoals. A crew of four scientists on the isolated Johnston Atoll had planned on riding out the storm in an evacuation shelter until the United States Fish and Wildlife Service sought an emergency evacuation on October 1. The United States Coast Guard flew a plane from Kalaeloa Airport to evacuate the personnel the next day. Seven researchers studying Hawaiian monk seals and green sea turtles on French Frigate Shoals were evacuated to Honolulu on October 2. Walaka struck the northwestern Hawaiian Islands as a Category 3 hurricane on October 4. A powerful storm surge accompanied the hurricane as it traversed the French Frigate Shoals. The small, low-lying East Island suffered a direct hit and was completely destroyed, sediment being scattered across coral reefs to the north. The island had served as one of the major nesting locations for the endangered green sea turtles, and critically endangered Hawaiian monk seals. An estimated 19 percent of 2018's sea turtle nests on the island were lost, but all adult females tending the nests left before the storm. Approximately half of Hawaii's green sea turtles nested on the island, and Charles Littnandirector of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's protected species divisionstated it would take years for the implications of the island's loss to be fully understood. By August 2019, satellite imagery showed that sand was beginning to reaccumulate on East Island. Coral reefs near the French Frigate Shoals, Lisianski Island, and the Pearl and Hermes Atoll were substantially damaged, displacing the native fish population. Swells from Hurricane Walaka brought high surf to the main Hawaiian Islands on October 4. Walaka produced a surf that was high