North Shore Power Restored, Nolo Turns Away, and Answering the FEMA Question

Four weeks after Hurricane Lowell, there's good news to start with: Wainiha and Ha'ena, the last major pockets of storm-caused outages, are back on the grid, with roughly 110 members still waiting in Koke'e. At the same time, the hurricane watch for Hawai'i County was canceled yesterday afternoon as Nolo kept moving away. It's now a Category 2 storm, still expected to strengthen into a major hurricane with peak intensity forecast for Monday, but no watches or warnings are in effect for Kaua'i. Expect gusty trade winds up to 55 mph today and dangerous surf through Tuesday.

Mālama Kaua'i executive director Megan Fox publicly raised a question this week that a lot of people have been asking: why does Nolo already have federal help lined up while Lowell's declaration is still pending? Here's what we know. Nolo's declaration, approved September 25, is a pre-landfall Emergency Declaration covering all four counties. It unlocks a 75 percent federal share for search-and-rescue, generators, and debris removal, but it does not open Individual Assistance for damaged homes. Lowell's request, submitted September 9, is a Major Disaster Declaration, which would open Individual Assistance for households, permanent infrastructure repair funding, and Hazard Mitigation Grant funding. Kaua'i's preliminary public infrastructure damage estimate is about $93.7 million, with 247 homes affected, 10 destroyed and 67 with major damage. Seventeen days after the county's expedited request, there's no public explanation yet for the timeline, so it's worth waiting for an answer rather than guessing. In the meantime, household-level gaps like these are exactly what our club's Disaster Relief Fund exists to help bridge while federal Individual Assistance remains pending.

The September 9 fire at the Lihu'e Civic Center's Kapule Building didn't just destroy property records, it postponed a 9/11 Day of Service project Kaua'i RSVP volunteers had planned. Director Andrea Alfiler and board member Gerald Ako's volunteers turned the setback into something the community needed anyway: hygiene kits for elderly and homeless residents, assembled in partnership with the County's Agency on Elderly Affairs. The kits are also going out with home food deliveries to homebound seniors. As Alfiler put it, "Meaningful support often begins with meeting people where they are, and offering something as basic as personal care necessities." That's Service Above Self in its most practical form.

Emergency Food Distributions and Farmers Markets This Week

Food resources are one of the quiet backbones of this recovery, and these are good ones to share with neighbors who need them.

Emergency food distributions (Hawai'i Foodbank Kaua'i):

• Tuesday, Sept. 29: Anahola Clubhouse, 3900 Kawelo St., Anahola, 4 to 6 p.m.
• Thursday, Oct. 1: Westside Christian Center, 8041 Kekaha Rd., Kekaha, 10 a.m. to noon.
• Thursday, Oct. 1: 'Aina Ho'okupu O Kīlauea, 4045 Kīlauea Rd., Kīlauea, 3 to 5 p.m.
• Friday, Oct. 2: Hāle Līhu'e, 4286 Rice St., Līhu'e, 3 to 5 p.m.
• Friday, Oct. 2: Holy Cross Church, 2-2370 Kaumuali'i Hwy., 4 to 5 p.m.

Kaua'i farmers markets (several reopening this week):

• Monday: Kukui Grove Pau Hana Market, 3 to 5:30 p.m., Līhu'e.
• Tuesday: Coconut Marketplace, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Kapa'a.
• Wednesday: Kapa'a Sunshine Market, 3 to 4:30 p.m., Kapa'a; Kaua'i Culinary Market, 3:30 to 6 p.m., Po'ipū.
• Thursday: Coconut Marketplace, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Kapa'a; Hale Puna, 3 to 5 p.m., Waimea.
• Saturday: Grove Farm Market, starting at 9:30 a.m. until supplies last, Līhu'e.

If you'd like to support the club's Disaster Relief Fund, or know a kupuna who could use a check-in, reach out to Mark Wolfendale, our Disaster Relief program contact, who has been coordinating the club's kupuna check-ins on the North Shore since the first days after the storm.