HANAPEPE, Kauai >> Hurricane Lowell’s wrath was felt especially hard on Kauai’s coastal regions, and the island’s west side was no
different.
The morning after the storm that hit overnight Monday, nine boats were missing from Port Allen
Harbor in Eleele while two more were sunk, one flipped upside down and the other with just its mast standing above the water.
The port itself was in bad shape. Docks were separated, the surrounding sidewalk was crumpled and the pathway that connected the docks to land was tipped halfway underwater. A broken segment on one dock was found about 40 feet away on land behind a boat parked atop a trailer.
The destruction appeared worse than Iniki, several fishermen told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
Simultaneous high tide and storm surge compounded impacts from the storm, wreaking havoc across the island’s coastal regions.
Justin Ipac is a captain for Hunt Fish Kauai, which takes groups on fishing tours around the island. His favorite part is showing people how to live off the land — as he has done his whole life — and seeing how happy they get when they catch a nice fish.
Thursday morning, Ipac and two other captains were digging out the trailer holding one of the company’s large sportfishing vessels,
a 36-foot Hatteras boat named Aukaka, from about a 1-1/2 feet of mud. Aukaka means “an area out in the ocean that we go to catch fish,” Ipac said, and the boat can take up to six passengers on a tour. Usually the large boat remains in the water, Ipac said, but they hauled it out onto land in preparation for the hurricane.
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For commercial permits, boats are only permitted to sail from the port for which they are licensed. So without government intervention, the boats impacted by Port Allen’s closure cannot operate out of other
harbors.
“Losing a harbor like this,” Ipac said, “A lot of people just lost their jobs.”
Growing up in a fishing family in Eleele, Ipac remembers “running around in pampers” at the port. It’s emotional to see it so devastated, he said, and he hopes it can be restored soon.
The company does have one boat licensed at Nawiliwili Harbor in Lihue that it could operate for tours, but with two boats out of commission, business will be tight. Ipac said he drives for Uber and can do yard work to make up for lost income while he waits for the port to reopen.
Matt Sullivan, another captain for Hunt Fish Kauai, said the dock needs to be built back stronger, but at the same time it needs to reopen quickly so that businesses can stay afloat.
“It becomes a timing thing,” he said, “Like if you can get that built back (the same) in six months, but it’s going to take two years to build them the right way. … People need work.”
The devastation continued to Waimea, where what was left of the recreational pier was simply columns of posts with planks. The planks that once connected the posts as a walking path had disappeared. Debris littered the beach, with one picnic table tilted about a foot into mud. A single crab leg was place neatly on the plank closest to the beach.
In Kekaha, the Hawaii
National Guard joined a Kauai County employee to respond to damage reports in the community. Tristan Costales submitted a report Wednesday night, and was surprised to see the team there so quickly.
During Lowell, she sheltered in place with her family inside her home. The house was dark — her power was restored Wednesday evening — but she could hear loud banging and crashing with the howl of the wind.
“That made it more scary because we couldn’t see anything,” she said. “It felt like we could feel the house moving. Worst experience of my life.”
When she walked outside the following morning, her mango tree had fallen and the roof of her dog kennel was lifted into her neighbor’s tree. Debris was strewn around the yard, including several shingles from her and her neighbors’ roofs.
Kaumualii Highway was covered with ocean rocks and boulders, lifted by the surf and storm surge from Hurricane Lowell, making the 1.5-mile stretch impassable.
“The boulders were like nothing I’ve ever seen,” said Mona Garcia, whose home is along the highway. “I knew the boulders were rolling
because I could hear them inside at nighttime around
3 a.m. It was just rolling, rolling, rolling like bowling balls down the aisle.”
The community moved the boulders “at first light,” she said, which allowed residents to get supplies as soon as possible. On Thursday, piles of boulders lined both sides of the highway while a heavy layer of dirt remained glued to the road.
The surge took out two walls of the Garcias’ first floor, which served as an indoor-outdoor garage and storage area for their wedding business. Inside, they found fish, crab and jellyfish, sand and water. A neighbor even found an
octopus in a nearby bush, she said.
Debris was “like a river” along the side of their home — including part of her neighbor’s roof — and the surge pushed her vehicle into her neighbor’s truck.
On Thursday, her neighbors were helping her clean out remaining mud and
salvaging what they could for their wedding business, including tables, chairs and a large disco ball.
A text thread between her neighbors allowed for them to easily help one another before, during and after the storm. “Being tight with your neighbors” is one of the best ways to be prepared for a storm like
Lowell, she added.
“The west-side community especially, and on Kauai in general, there’s really nothing like it,” Garcia said.
The front of Trish Tsukamoto’s home in Kekaha was in the midst of a large renovation when the hurricane hit. She had just paid for new electrical and drywall, and now it will all have to be redone. She also will likely have to replace her roof, she said, with much of the metal flashing unscrewed and lifted following the storm.
Tsukamoto isn’t worried about rebuilding — it’s stressful, but she knows she and her husband will be allright. For now, she said a community resilience hub that could distribute meals and provide shelter away from the coast — but still in Kekaha — could help.
The current neighborhood center is set around 200 feet back from the highway. While it’s unclear if it was damaged by the hurricane, debris and rocks remained in the grass out front.
During Lowell, the closest shelter was at Waimea Canyon Middle School, just
under a 4-mile drive from Kekaha. Tsukamoto said several kupuna are unable to drive, and having a shelter available in the neighborhood could help those who typically don’t ask for help to receive it.
“I think that’s what we need for the families here,” she said. “I think that would really help.”