PRINCEVILLE — North Shore residents and visitors, whose lights stayed off until 9:40 p.m. Wednesday after power had been restored to most of Kaua‘i following a temporary island-wide outage, filled the checkout lines at a Princeville grocery store to buy
PRINCEVILLE — North Shore residents and visitors, whose lights stayed off until 9:40 p.m. Wednesday after power had been restored to most of Kaua‘i following a temporary island-wide outage, filled the checkout lines at a Princeville grocery store to buy essentials.
Mary Castiglia of San Francisco, who is visiting the island with her son, daughter and husband, said she stopped at the Foodland store in Princeville to buy flashlights.
“We’re going to have an adventure,” she said, echoing the generally good-natured responses of others who came to the store, which kept its lights on with backup power generators.
Tom McCabe and Susan George of Princeville came in to buy cooked chicken, candles, a Bic lighter and a bottle of wine.
Dale Longsworth of Princeville bought cat food, colas, ice cream and rum. “I bought just enough for tonight,” he said.
Diane, who did not provide her last name, drove to Princeville from Hanalei to buy ice cream. “I’m going to eat it as soon as I get home,” she said.
Blake Moura, a Foodland manager, said backup generators allowed workers to keep the aisles well-lighted and the store partially powered up. Another popular seller was ice.
“It’s busy, but everybody understands,” store employee Albert Ballesteros said.
A backup generator also kept the lights on at the combination police/fire station in Princeville until power was restored.
“We’re getting swamped with calls,” patrol officer Mike Marshall said.
Lights came on earlier in nearby Hanalei, where residents reported that local restaurants filled up quickly.
