Thursday marked Day 3 of recovery from Hurricane Lowell, which blasted through Kauai Monday night into early Tuesday morning.
Mahalo to Jerry Hirata and the Hanapepe Soto Zen Temple volunteers for allowing TGI room to accommodate the processing of news material… Mahalo to the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative crews for responding to reports of a downed power line and correcting the problem so power could be restored and online work by the church (they were working on a grant deadline) and TGI could continue.
Mahalo to the crews, including site manager Jason Caldeira of the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center, for allowing TGI to park its vehicle at the facility that served as one of five refuge areas. That helped us get to Holy Cross without crossing the Papalina Road stoplight…the traffic on Tuesday was horrendous with the stoplight not working, and two of the three gas stations went online.
Finally, mahalo to KIUC (many hands from David Bissell on down that solid tree) for the planning and hard work on trying to get power to everyone. When Lowell whacked the island, news accounts reported that 91 percent of the island was without power.
In a Member Advisory received on Thursday, KIUC has restored power to about 56 percent of its members, including Kapaa, Hanamaulu, Lihue (that Lihue fire station was a beacon in the night, its garage lit up against a darkened Rice Street), Puhi, Koloa, Poipu, and Waimea. Additionally, power has been restored to the Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital (good thing my eye surgery was moved back a week), the Samuel Mahelona Memorial Hospital, and the Wilcox Medical Center.
One member was so overcome with joy on Wednesday night, bathed in the light of the Nawiliwili Road streetlights, that he kept blasting his car horn and screaming, ‘Chee-hoo!” as he passed by the Target store (also fully lit) that had closed for the day.
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Dennis Fujimoto can be reached at 245-0453 or at dennis.fujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
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