Hurricane Lowell Relief: September 13 Update

As Rotarians, our commitment is Service Above Self — and right now that means staying close to the needs on the North Shore and helping our neighbors recover from Hurricane Lowell. This update covers the latest from the county and a Saturday morning of service that one of our own was part of. If you or someone you know on the North Shore needs help connecting to county recovery resources, or wants to get involved through the club's own Disaster Relief efforts, reach out to Mark Wolfendale, our Disaster Relief program contact.

Mayor Derek Kawakami called in to Kong 93.5 Saturday morning with the county's latest on Hurricane Lowell recovery. He didn't sugarcoat it: "It's been a long week... people are tired, fatigue is starting to set in... and it's heavy, and nobody, nobody is carrying it alone." He was clear there's a long road ahead, "and we're not going to pretend otherwise. And we are going to keep going."

KIUC has restored power to 75% of the island. The North Shore, our club's own backyard, Wainiha and Haena especially, is still at zero and is the top priority, with mutual-aid crews from Hawaiian Electric and Southern California Edison arriving to help through the coming weeks. Water systems are 97% restored. County damage assessment teams have logged 412 home inspections so far: 57 with major damage, 7 destroyed.

Debris removal is the slowest-moving piece. Kapaa Transfer Station is open for green waste and trash; Lihue for refuse only; Hanapepe and Kekaha for both. Temporary bypass sites are being set up near Kilauea for North Shore overflow.

Residents are asked to report storm damage at kauairecovers.org (it helps the county build the case for state and federal aid), to be mindful of crews and traffic near work zones, and to check on kupuna and neighbors still without power.

If you or someone you know on the North Shore needs help connecting to county recovery resources, or wants to get involved through the club's own Disaster Relief efforts, reach out to Mark Wolfendale, our Disaster Relief program contact.

Hurricane Lowell's rains pushed an unusually large amount of driftwood onto Lydgate Park and around Kamalani Playground. Friends of Kamalani & Lydgate Beach, joined by Ron Wiley on Kong 93.5, put out the call: 150 volunteers needed Saturday morning to clear the beach and Morgan's Pond.

That group has its own history worth noting for our club: it formed after 5,000 community members came together to rebuild Kamalani Playground following Hurricane Iniki. Thirty-four years later, during Lowell recovery, that same spirit showed up again, and one of our own Rotarians was right there in the middle of it, gloves on, hauling driftwood alongside neighbors for two hours straight. He's the one who sent us these photos.

Volunteers were fed on-site, and the leftover food didn't sit around, it went straight up to the North Shore, where many households are still without power or a working refrigerator. Food security is shaping up to be one of the harder parts of this recovery, exactly the kind of need our club is positioned to help with going forward.