TONY SOMMER / TSOMMER@STARBULLETIN.COM
A large wooden storage building near Kukui Grove Shopping Mall outside Lihue was demolished by high winds yesterday morning. The corrugated metal roof landed about 100 feet away across a highway. The building contained packages of insulation and plastic pipe.
Neighbor isles
also experience
storm’s full effectProblems include electrical
failures, choppy harbor waters
and blown-off roofsOahu: Thousands lose electricity, roads to Haleiwa are blocked
Schools: Nine sites close for at least part of yesterday, with several staying closed today
High winds on Maui yesterday led to a forest fire in Olinda, blew the roof off a house in Haiku and pushed ashore several vessels from Lahaina to Kaanapali.
"The wind is screaming right now," said Olinda resident Susan Wachter, who had been without power for 2 1/2 hours yesterday afternoon.
Across the neighbor islands yesterday, high winds knocked out power to thousands, closed stores and tore the roofs from homes and buildings.
A downed power line in Olinda started a forest fire and cut power to the neighborhood.
Assistant Fire Chief Alan Cordeiro said he received reports that the roof of a cottage blew off on Holokai Road in Haiku, and a couple of carports lost their roofs, including one in Wailuku.
Authorities said the wind was blowing at about 50 mph in Olinda, where state forestry workers and county firefighters contained the blaze to less than one acre about five miles mauka of Makawao town.
Lahaina Harbor master Hal Silva said at least four sailboats that possibly broke from their moorings were blown ashore. He said damage appeared minimal, and none of the vessels posed a pollution hazard.
Maui Community College was closed due to the wind and the lack of electricity to portions of the campus.
Suzette Robinson, acting assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs, said officials hoped to reopen the college today.
Traffic was rerouted through alternate streets in numerous areas due to obstructions caused by high winds, including Spreckelsville, where power poles were tilted at a 45-degree angle on Hana Highway, according to Maui Civil Defense.
Big Island
High winds knocked out power to more than 10,000 customers, threatened to damage roofs and forced the closure of some parks on the Big Island.The events were compounded by a fire at the Puna Geothermal Venture power plant, although that did not appear related to the weather. (See story.)
At about 10:50 a.m. a 69,000-volt transmission line in the Puna District went out of service, knocking other Hawaii Electric Light Co. facilities off line, the company said. About 5,400 customers lost power. At about the same time, tree branches fell on power lines in Hilo and Puna, cutting power to another 5,900 customers.
The first group of customers got power back at 11:43 a.m., followed by the second group at 12:19 p.m.
But during the afternoon a third group of customers lost power in North Kohala due to a down transformer. Details were not available.
Three residents, two in Hilo and one in the Nanawale subdivision in Puna, reported their roofs in danger of blowing off, Kim said. Firetrucks were sent to the sites, and workers climbed ladders to nail the roofs down, Mayor Harry Kim said.
Choppy waters in Kona led to a ban on boats leaving Honokohau Harbor, he said. Kamehameha Park, Mahukona Wharf and Kapaa Park, all in North Kohala, were closed.
At the summit of Mauna Kea, observatories recorded winds of 65 mph, said Mauna Kea services manager Ron Koehler. He closed the summit road at the 13,000-foot level at 2 p.m.
Kauai
The main force of the storm struck the Garden Island before dawn yesterday, beginning a series of power failures that continued around the island most of the day.Wind gusts were clocked at 40 mph with gusts higher than 60 mph at Lihue Airport, and 3 inches of rain was recorded in Kokee at the top of Waimea Canyon.
Numerous businesses -- including Wal-Mart in Hanamaulu -- and several government agencies told employees to stay home. Many delivery services kept their drivers off the roads, and that, in turn, caused numerous restaurants to close.
By noon, however, the sun was shining and the streets were cleared. Winds had dropped to 20 mph with gusts to 40 mph. The high-wind warning was dropped to a high-wind advisory at 4 p.m.
Kauai Fire Department officials said they received no reports of homes or businesses losing roofs, although a storage building near Kukui Grove Shopping Mall was destroyed.
The only major road closure was on Kaumualii Highway west of Lihue, where a tree wrapped in a broken power line blocked the road for several hours.
