Hurricane Iniki was close to the perfect storm. One reason was the storm path.

http://www.drgeorgepc.com/hurricaneIniki1992.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Iniki_1992_track.png/775px-Iniki_1992_track.png

As you can see, the hurricane traveled almost due west, before turning north. The reason that this is significant, is that a more northwest path will take it into cooler water. Several times, I have watched the storm path of hurricanes that move northwest. They become a massive hurricane and then suddenly dissipate about 200 miles east of the Big Island. The damaging hurricanes stay to the south for a long time before turning north and the turn is usually about 90 degrees.
The hurricane needs to form along the border of Mexico and Guatemala. Any farther north and the hurricane will not get the necessary energy from the warm water.
So why did it turn to the north? Usually there is a tropical ridge that protects the Hawaiian Islands, so that most of the hurricanes that do head west stay to the south of Hawaii. But not this time.

"The subtropical ridge, which typically keeps hurricanes well away from the Hawaiian Islands, weakened due to an approaching upper level-trough and allowed Iniki to turn to the northwest."

How bad was the storm?
If you look at the storm track, you will see that Iniki passed over Kauai. This is two hundred miles from Maui, and yet several large boats left unattended at anchor were destroyed. Their debris was washed up on the southern shores of the island. The rain was sideways. so schools that had louvers at their ridges to let hot air out of the ceiling, had water damage. Wind gusts were over 60 mph.
And look at what happened to the beaches.

Before;
http://www.drgeorgepc.com/hurricaneIniki1.jpg

After;
http://www.drgeorgepc.com/hurricaneIniki2.jpg

As far as lightning strikes go, I don't remember any on Maui, and I didn't see any info on the web about Iniki lightning.
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Iniki
http://www.drgeorgepc.com/HurricaneIniki.html

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