Two walls of Mona Garcia’s house in Kekaha are gone. The surf from Hurricane Lowell tore them out and flooded the ground floor, and on Thursday, September 10, her neighbor Delcynn Lagazeal was in there with her, clearing out what the water left. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser photographed the two women at work.
That is Kauai this week. The island is shoveling out from Lowell while it marks the day Hurricane Iniki hit, 34 years ago.
A track Kauai knows
Lowell hung over Hawaii for more than a week before it came close to Kauai and Niihau overnight Monday into Tuesday morning. It took a path much like Iniki’s, passing south of the islands and then swinging hard north toward the state. Kauai County took the worst of it. Damage estimates are not final, but county crews had carried out about 245 preliminary assessments by Friday and found at least 54 homes with major damage. At least seven were destroyed.
Three people died. On Wednesday searchers found Steven Palama, 74, of Kalaheo, along the shoreline in front of Nomilu Fishpond, where he worked as caretaker. On Friday, a 69-year-old man from Wainiha was found near Kuhio Highway and Wainiha Powerhouse Road, in an area police said had flooded badly. Police had not released his name. The Star-Advertiser ran a correction on his age, which first appeared as 59. On Oahu, 31-year-old Floyd Ruiz was killed Monday when a tree fell on him in a tent at Sherwoods in Waimanalo. The Medical Examiner’s Office ruled it an accident caused by multiple blunt force injuries.
“Who showed up”
Mayor Derek Kawakami put the two storms side by side in a Friday statement. “Thirty-four years ago today, Iniki changed our island,” he said. “Many of us remember the hard days that followed, and we also remember who showed up.”
Hawaii News Now carried more of it. Iniki, which struck on September 11, 1992 as a Category 4 hurricane with gusts topping 200 mph, killed seven people and caused more than $3 billion in damage. Kawakami recalled neighbors clearing each other’s yards and families sharing what they had. “Lowell has tested us again, and once again we are not doing this alone,” he said, thanking the people from across the state who came to work next to Kauai’s own crews.
The help is visible. Maui Mayor Richard Bissen toured the damage with Kawakami on Thursday, and Maui County sent a debris removal team. The Hawaii National Guard, an Oahu incident management team and the American Red Cross also have people on the island.
Lights, roads and schools
Kauai Island Utility Cooperative said it restored power to about 2,700 more customers in 24 hours, bringing the total to roughly 73% of its members. The North Shore is the hard part. About 5,000 accounts depend on one transmission line there, and CEO David Bissell said repairs to it could finish by the end of next week. The co-op has not given a date for the whole area because of the damage along Powerline Road.
No state highway on Kauai is fully closed to homes now. Kuhio Highway is open through Haena, though crews are still pulling debris from under the Wailua River Bridge. Kokee and Waimea Canyon roads are only partly back, and Ahukini and Halewili roads stay shut because of downed utility poles. Port Allen remains closed to commercial traffic until divers replace damaged navigational buoys.
Public schools on Kauai were set to reopen Monday after a week closed. Kilauea Elementary and Hanalei Elementary will stay shut because neither has drinking water.
Sources
- Kauai continues Lowell recovery while marking Iniki anniversary | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
- Kauai marks 34 years since Hurricane Iniki as Lowell recovery continues | Hawaii News Now
