Lala was not our first hurricane.
After two decades of island life, we have been through a few hurricanes. In general, our location on the island, in the lee of a 13,802ft mauna, has protected us from the worst. Stiff winds and heavy rain from some, while a couple of hurricanes have passed with blue skies and almost no wind for those of us in the lee.
Lala was not our first hurricane, but it was the most serious yet.
As the storm passed, the village was buffeted by strong, gusty winds and about 4″ of rain. Trees were down all over the place, also down was one of the large transmission line poles that supplies the village, resulting in about 26 hours without power.
Deb and I hunkered down, spending a day reading, sleeping, using my power tool batteries to recharge the iPads and phones, keeping tabs on the storm, and listening to the wind rattle the shingles.
I worried over the freezer full of Alaskan halibut, hoping the power came back before it thawed, ready to pile the freezer contents into a cooler and take to work, where an empty freezer and power awaited.
The next morning found debris all over the yard, an entire trailer load of it. This included one of our mature plumeria, blown down by the winds. I spent a day trundling loads of palm fronds and plumeria to the trailer, wondering when the green waste drop-off would again be open.
Our local KTA store was also without power for the day. When I went shopping the next day, I found all of the refrigerated sections stripped. Employees were still working on the ice cream aisle, loading all of the freezer contents into shopping carts for disposal. A truly sad sight.
We got off lightly. The south end of the island was hit hard, the towns of Pāhala, Waiʻōhinu, and Nāʻālehu were subject to both high winds and an amazing amount of rain, near 40″ in some places. The result was flooded homes and businesses. Māmalahoa Highway, the main round-the-island belt road was washed out in a couple of places, buried in mud and rock in others.
Thousands of households were left without power for days, and in too many cases still have not seen power restored. No access, no power, and in some areas no water. Recovery efforts are going to take a while.
One of our favorite local businesses, the Punalu‘u Bakery, was nearly destroyed, with several feet of water going right through the bakery and the bakery store, smashing equipment and leaving several feet of mud inside. There will be no stopping for malasadas or bismarks next time through Nāʻālehu, no sweet bread on our local grocery store shelves. The day after the storm, I tried to buy a few of the last sweet bread rolls, but the Punalu‘u shelves in the bakery section were already bare, I was not the only one mourning the loss.
Lala was not our first hurricane, but this hurricane season is just getting started.
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