From Wednesday, March 11 to Sunday, March 15 the State of Hawaii endured a very strong “Kona Low” storm. In terms I can understand, that means a storm system that moves very slowly, dumping lots of rain in the clockwise direction that hits the islands from the south west. The risk of these kinds of storms is that more rain is dropped because the moisture is coming from the warmer south than the normal cooler north, and areas on the north east side of the mountains get stronger winds because the wind speeds up downhill after hitting from the south west.

The storm system first hit Kauai, then Oahu and worked its way down to Maui and the Big Island, affecting those islands on the west side of the island chain more because the storm lingered longer. Maui and Big Island got 20 to 30 inches of rain during this period. Oahu got 8 to 20 inches of rain, depending on the area.

“At the storm’s peak, more than 100,000 Hawaiian Electric customers were without power and by Sunday afternoon, more than 32,000 were still without electricity. But no deaths were reported, the Governor Green said, and only two people were seriously injured. “

“In Honolulu, the amount of rainfall in February and the first half of March hasn’t been this high since at least 2000, totaling at least 12.25 inches. The previous high set in 2017 was roughly two inches less. Friday was the single rainiest day in the state’s capital in more than two decades, with 5.51 inches of rain. At Makapuʻu Beach on Oʻahu, 81-mph wind gusts were recorded on Friday. Kāneʻohe Bay experienced 70-mph gusts.“

Even the economically critical Waikiki area took some cracks.

While the flood and wind damage was very bad in some areas, we thank God that no one died.

How we did

Our property, on the South side of Oahu, doesn’t get much rain normally but is prone to flooding in Kona Low conditions because the ground is graded to the back, and doesn’t drain onto the street. There’s an easement / drain behind the homes and if that fills up, our property can’t drain out. I asked a neighbor to remove obstructions blocking the drain, and removed the plants and debris prior to the start of the storm.

I also widened our yard drainage and sand bagged a garage that floods if the drainage backs up. All those steps plus the fact that the rain wasn’t super heavy over a short period of time, allowed the drain system to take away the water.

During the peak of the heavy rain on Friday and Saturday, I constantly checked Weather Underground to see how much rain was predicted in the next few hours, and watched their radar map.

Also checked NOAA’s recent rainfall totals .

I was so focused on the flood risk I didn’t think about the strong winds that took down transmission lines for power, phone and cable.

We lost Spectrum internet service and power for about 6hrs on Friday night. Friends didn’t have power from mid-day Friday to Sunday morning. A few areas still didn’t have power on Monday.

The HECO Outage Map was helpful in determining when they estimated power would be restored.

Losing power meant we’d be in the dark if we didn’t have a bunch of Ledlenser rechargeable lights (love those!) and couldn’t microwave the food that would soon spoil in the fridge. We kept the fridge shut and just ate bread and honey. 🙂 When I opened the fridge after the power was restored about 6 hrs later, it was at 43 degrees. Food at 40 degrees or warmer begins to spoil after a couple of hrs. so were right at the edge of our food being suspect.

People without food or a means to cook food had a hard time finding read-to-eat food because so many businesses were without power. Hawaii Kai Costco was closed on Sunday because their perishables had to be thrown out. Sadly, this happens often at that location. Longs stores weren’t open because their Point of Sales systems were down.

What I need to improve before the next big storm

I didn’t expect to be without power for more than 4 hrs. With a greater chance of tropical storms this Fall (an El Nino is probable), power outages are highly likely. A gas generator is cumbersome to use in a rain storm so I’m considering getting a Power Station / Power Bank (basically a large lithium battery with outlets) that can run a fridge for a day and a half, and power a microwave a few times. Since online stores don’t seem to ship those to Hawaii, there are only a few stores like Lowes and Battery Bills that have them available.

I will also use my many Arctic Ice reusable blocks in our roto-molded coolers with the most perishable foods. That should keep them colder than the unpowered fridge.

We had partially charged our cell phones before the power went out, but luckily, the Ledlenser lanterns also work as power banks that can charge a phone. I’ll make sure all our rechargeable emergency items are fully charged next time.