FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Two of three replacement poles were delivered yesterday behind the Dole facility in Helemano for installation by HECO crews. The three poles were key to bringing power to a nearby substation for restoration of service to the Haleiwa-Waialua area.
Power restored
after windstormGusts of up to 85 mph topple
utility poles and trees and are
blamed for a man's death
Hawaiian Electric Co. crews reconnected all but a few of the 70,000 Oahu customers who lost power Wednesday as company officials tried yesterday to figure out why the massive windstorm created such islandwide havoc.
Also yesterday, Kauai police said the winds likely caused the death of a 36-year-old homeless man. Michael Larson, who also used the name Michael Souza, apparently was killed Wednesday when the top 40 feet of a Norfolk Island pine tree snapped off and fell on his campsite, police said.
Filing a HECO claim
Businesses and homeowners affected by the power outages have 30 days to file a claim with Hawaiian Electric Co.HECO spokesman Jose Dizon said the claims will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
For more information or to request a claims form, call HECO's claims line at 543-4624.
Larson was camped in a remote area above Kapaa on Kauai's East Shore, and his body was found late Wednesday afternoon by dirt bike riders. An autopsy is scheduled to determine the exact cause of death.
The storm whipped through the islands with winds as high as 85 mph, downing trees and 41 utility poles and damaging more than 100 roofs throughout Oahu. Some areas were without power for as long as 24 hours, with businesses reporting thousands of dollars in losses.
City crews removed dozens of trees and large branches from Oahu's roads yesterday and cleared heavy debris from swimming pools at Kailua and Waialua district parks and area streams.
On the neighbor islands, two boats were run aground by the storm, and electricity crews were still making repairs to downed lines.
Seven public schools were closed yesterday for power failures, including four in Honolulu, one in Central Oahu and two on Maui. Three public schools in Windward Oahu were closed for wind damage. All schools were to reopen today.
Power was returned to about 11,000 customers in Hawaii Kai and Kuliouou at 2:25 p.m. yesterday, said Hawaiian Electric spokesman Jose Dizon. Some in the area had been out since 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, but a bulk of Hawaii Kai lost power about 6:30 p.m., he said.
For about an hour yesterday afternoon, 2,900 customers in Aina Haina and Niu Valley lost power.
As of late last night, only about 20 Oahu customers were without power, Dizon said.
Dizon said crews were looking into why so many power poles were toppled, snapped or damaged after the storm.
One possibility could be that recent heavy rains weakened the ground around the poles, he said.
Meanwhile, many businesses in Hawaii Kai that were out of power for almost 24 hours opened their doors yesterday afternoon and took stock of their losses.
"Almost everything's melted," said Bubbies Homemade Ice Cream & Desserts Hawaii owner Win Schoneman, who estimated his losses at about $3,000.
At Foodland in Koko Marina Center, all of the dairy items, meats and seafood had to be thrown away yesterday, said spokeswoman Sheryl Toda.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
These utility poles along Kaukonahua Road in Waialua yesterday were among dozens damaged or destroyed by high winds.
"We removed any product in question," which included all perishables, she said. Toda did not have an immediate estimate of the loss.
Kaiser Permanente's clinic in Hawaii Kai was forced to close and cancel 30 appointments yesterday. Longs Drug at the Hawaii Kai Shopping Center was unable to fill any prescriptions until opening after power was restored. The Hawaii Kai post office was temporarily closed during the outage.
Those affected by the power failure have 30 days to file a claim with Hawaiian Electric because of loss, and "we'll look at it on a case-by-case basis," Dizon said.
The outage also caused significant problems for some homeowners, including Portlock resident Loy Weston. Without aerated water from an electrical pump, 25 of Weston's 100 koi fish in a backyard pond died.
"If I sound a little strange, (it's because) I've been giving artificial respiration to fish," he said yesterday. "They're just dying in my hands."
Weston's neighbor, who is on vacation, lost about 50 fish from his koi pond. The minimum cost of koi is $1,000 per fish, he said.
In Kuliouou some residents had no water or had low water pressure for hours because a power pump could not boost water up to the area's reservoir, said Board of Water Supply spokeswoman Wanda Yamane.
She said the board dispatched a mobile pump until power was restored, adding, "We do rely on electricity, like everyone else."
Oahu Civil Defense spokesman Peter Hirai said there are no estimates yet on damage sustained from the windstorm. But some areas of the island reported heavy cleanup efforts.
At Castle High School, which was closed yesterday, all the roofing paper on its Technology Academy was peeled back by the winds and strewn across the school. Two cars in the school's parking lot at the time were damaged by the flying debris, said Principal Meredith Maeda.
The wind may also have damaged trees and plants at Foster, Wahiawa, Liliuokalani and Koko Crater botanical gardens, which were closed yesterday. City spokeswoman Carol Costa said Wahiawa Botanical Gardens will be closed today for more cleanup.
Hanauma Bay was also closed but will reopen today.
On the Big Island, a 65-foot, three-masted sailing ship that ran aground just outside Kailua Bay on Wednesday during high winds will be dismantled.
Dean Towle, owner of the ship Spanish Main, told Coast Guard Lt. Brian McCaul that he would not try to salvage the ship, but would instead remove the remaining fuel from the ship, then take out fuel tanks and the engine.
The only boat reported damaged off Kauai was a 65-foot vessel owned by the U.S. Navy and used to recover torpedoes during submarine training at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. It broke loose from the dock at Port Allen on Wednesday and was driven ashore.
Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis said a salvage team was dispatched from Pearl Harbor to survey the wreckage yesterday. There was no oil leaking from the boat, Davis said, but it is unclear whether it could be refloated.
Meanwhile, Hawaii Electric Light Co. restored power to all affected Big Isle customers by early afternoon, said spokesman Jay Ignacio.
The Kauai Island Utility Cooperative estimated about 10,000 of its 30,000 residential and commercial customers had power failures Wednesday ranging from minutes to hours.
The strong winds are gone, but the National Weather Service has issued a high-surf warning for all Hawaiian coastal waters yesterday, and waves as high as 18 feet were reported on some shores.
The waves were not big enough to hold the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational contest, which requires waves of at least 30 feet.
Event spokeswoman Jodi Young said the strong winds "that we had seemed to kind of flatten the waves."
Star-Bulletin reporters Rod Thompson and Anthony Sommer contributed to this report.
