On the evening of September 30, the Kohala High School cafeteria was set up with posters around the room. Each one had a single heading: communication, damage, utilities, safety or resources. Residents wrote what had worked during Hurricane Lala and what hadn't. Then they put sticker dots on the ideas they cared about most. By the end of the night they had posted 122 ideas.
The North Kohala Community Resource Center's write-up of that night came out October 22. It reads less like a damage report and more like a list of ways to reach people. The ideas with the most votes had little to do with roofs or lumber. They were about knowing who needs a check-in, how to reach them and where to post news when phones stop working.
Homes Mostly Held Up While Service Went Out for Days
NKCRC handed out a community needs survey at the gathering and also posted it online. Among the first 57 households to answer, 96% said their home was safe to live in, and most of the damage was downed trees. Service was a different story. NKCRC summed it up this way:
"homes held up, but people were cut off."
Here is what those 57 households reported. The internet, electricity and cell figures count only households that lost service. The other percentages are of households that answered each question.
| What respondents reported | Share or duration |
|---|---|
| Lost internet | 94% |
| Lost electricity | 83% |
| Lost cell service | 74% |
| Typical power outage | About five days |
| Kohala Mountain Road near Kaʻauhuhu Homestead | 11 to 12 days without power |
| Parts of Kapaʻau and Hāwī | Two to three weeks without internet |
| Little or no clear picture of the storm's impact while it was happening | 58% |
| Lost work or income | 35% |
The outage lengths stand out more when you compare damage counts. In August, Big Island Now reported Hawaiian Electric's first damage assessments. In North Kohala the utility found four broken poles, six downed lines and one case of tree-related damage, with the worst of it near Māliu Ridge, where access, clearing and repairs were harder. In Kaʻū, initial assessments found at least 35 broken poles. Upland Kaloko Mauka in North Kona had 16.
On paper, the grid damage here was light. Many households still went about five days without power, and some went much longer. A modest number of breaks can still leave a rural district without power and internet for days. That explains why the community's plan focuses on getting through the gap, and less on hoping the gap gets shorter.
More than a third of farms, fishers and home businesses in the survey said the storm affected them.
Neighbors Voted for Faster Check-Ins
Here are the five ideas with the most sticker dots, in order:
- Self-sufficiency, one person at a time. The idea that topped the night: if each person is prepared, their family will be too, and so will the community.
- A communication point in each area. This included a buddy system for kūpuna and radios in their homes.
- A kūpuna directory. A list of elders and others who need help, and what they need, so neighbors know who to check on.
- Bulletin boards in each area. For example, at the post office, for people who can't use or don't use social media.
- A sign-up list at the hospital or health center for kūpuna and people with disabilities.
Each idea answers a line in the survey table. Nearly six in ten households had little sense of what was happening during the storm, and most had lost internet and cell service. Four of the top five ideas are ways to get information to people who would otherwise go without it.
Other ideas also drew strong support. Residents asked for a shared laundry trailer, more tree trimming on neighboring and empty lots, and longer-lasting repairs on state and county roads. They also asked for a shared green waste container in each neighborhood, because the transfer station accepts only one load a day.
Most of What Worked Came From Neighbors
The "what worked" posters credit the neighborhood itself more than any agency. The neighborhood chainsaw response team got the most votes, and many people asked whether more residents could get chainsaw certified, with sponsors or government money paying for the training.
People also thanked St. Augustine's Church for letting them charge phones and devices from its generator. Others on the list included the coconut wireless, generator rentals, community handouts of ice, water and meals, and Kohala Radio's public service announcements about where to find food, water and ice.
The organizers of the September 30 night came from the same local groups. The Kohala Resilience Hub put the evening together with NKCRC, the North Kohala Community Development Plan Utilities Group, Kohala Radio, St. Augustine's Church and the North Kohala Community Emergency Response Team.
The formal preparedness event had been scheduled for after the storm. On July 30, Hawaiian Electric announced a free Community Resilience Fair for Saturday, August 29, at Hisaoka Gym in Kamehameha Park. It was presented with Council Member James Hustace, Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense Agency and the Kohala Resilience Hub, and it was to include agency tables, keiki activities and a panel on emergency preparedness. Lala came first. Hawaiian Electric's community events page now lists the Kohala fair as postponed.
Where to Plug In Before the Next Storm
The September 30 list only works if people sign up for it. Here are the current ways to take part.
Take the survey if you haven't. NKCRC's post-Lala community needs assessment takes about five to eight minutes. NKCRC says the answers will help it write community-driven needs statements for recovery grant applications on North Kohala's behalf, connect households directly with resources, and find gaps that official damage assessments might miss. The October report says the more households respond, the clearer the picture of what North Kohala needs. Today that picture comes from 57 households.
Connect with North Kohala CERT. The NKCERT page says the team keeps training and preparing for emergencies, and it lists John Winter as the contact at 808-889-6901. The chainsaw team and the buddy system both depend on people who have trained before a storm.
Support Kohala Radio. The station is a volunteer-run, low-power, noncommercial community FM station with local programming. Its NKCRC page lists Aaron Sienkiewicz at 808-889-0507 and [email protected]. Residents asked for radios in kūpuna homes, and a radio is only useful if a local station keeps broadcasting.
Know who runs the Hub. NKCRC's Kohala Resilience Hub page names Kathy Matsuda and Kimi Vaka'uta as project leads. NKCRC describes the Hub as an ongoing project covering basic needs, health and wellness, emergency preparedness and coordination among community partners.
Stop by the Night Market. The Kohala Night Market is held on the first Wednesday of the month at 55-514 Hāwī Road. Howzit Kohala listed it for October 7, from 4 to 7 p.m. On that schedule, the next one would be Wednesday, December 2. Check with NKCRC before you go. A market where the same neighbors show up every month is also one of the easiest places to start the "who checks on whom" conversation the posters called for.
Plan around Hawi Road this week. The Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation's Big Island roadwork schedule lists shoulder work on Hawi Road, Route 250, between mileposts 5 and 8 in Kapaʻau, through Friday, November 6.
As a former home inspector, I keep coming back to the 96% figure. It suggests North Kohala's houses were in good shape for Lala. The harder part was getting news and help between homes during the outage. If you'd like to talk through what your property needs to ride out a long outage, from generator hookups to tree clearance along your driveway, Kekoa Akana is glad to walk it with you. Schedule a Private Consultation.
