KILAUEA — Jill Lowry just came on board as executive director of Anaina Hou Community Park — in time for the weekend storm that hit the North Shore hard.
“Sunday, most of the day was OK, until it wasn’t,” she said Monday morning. “Then, it started to cut loose.”
Winds picked up and staff could hear it crashing and cracking through the forest. Trees started swaying, branches snapped off.
“It was pretty intense,” Lowry said.
She told staff to lock up on and go home, as safety came first.
“We’ll deal with the aftermath tomorrow,” she said.
The aftermath was one heckuva mess left behind for the nonprofit to clean up, which remained closed Monday.
Trees, plants and brush came down around the garden and the mini-golf course. A thatched hut lost much of its roof.
The good news, though, was that the damage looked worse than it was. Much of it was clearing and putting things back in order, which staff and a few volunteers tackled Monday. The playground that recently opened was OK.
Anaina Hou hopes to reopen for business as usual today.
Removing downed trees, repairing power lines and clearing debris remained chores the day after a storm pummeled Kauai most of Sunday with heavy rains, high surf and winds of up to 60 mph. Power was knocked out for much of Sunday in some areas.
The Department of Water activated a temporary power source at the Kapaa well site in order to begin water service restoration to its Kapahi customers Monday afternoon.
A trailer-mounted water tank containing potable water will be available at the Kapahi Park, located near the intersection of Kaapuni Road and Kawaihau Road in Kapaa. Customers are asked to being their own water containers.
The water conservation notice for all DOW customers remained in place. Customers are asked to continue water conservation measures in an effort to maintain water services where available until electrical power, system repairs and well site functions can be restored to normal, islandwide.
The Department of Land and Natural Resources said that state parks on Kauai got the brunt of damaging winds.
At Koke‘e and Waimea Canyon State Parks strong winds brought down numerous trees, power, and telephone lines. A waterline was severed when a tree fell on it, and 150,000 gallons drained from the park’s main tank.
Power was out in the parks and without it pumps are inoperable and eventually the tank could run dry. The leak has been identified and isolated and repairs are beginning. Carswell, Camp Sloggett and the Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) cabin are currently without water.
Elsewhere on Kauai, wind blew the roof off the Russian Fort Elizabeth comfort station and crews were fixing it. One half of the Fern Grotto trail in Wailua River State Park was closed because of fallen trees and crews were also working to clear it.
On the North Shore near Wainiha, the ocean overflowed onto several roads and dumped debris all around, but no serious damage was reported.
In Princeville and Hanalei, many were out with chain saws, rakes and chippers.
The storm brought chilly conditions with it.
Leona Perez, programs manager at the Kauai Independent Food Bank, slurped her cup of instant noodles Monday.
“It’s so cold,” Perez said. “I’m trying to get warm.”
Monday’s temperatures had risen to 74 degrees with a relative humidity of 53 percent by the noon hour, according to Lihue Airport observations hosted by the National Weather Service.
Overnight, the low temperatures dipped to 60 degrees with a 72 percent relative humidity at 6 a.m. That was the lowest temperature overnight with other observations hovering in the low 60s.
There were reports that the temperature in Eleele dipped into the 40s between Saturday night and Sunday morning and many people talked of bundling up, closing windows and piling on the blankets.
In other areas of Kauai, the mercury dipped to 57 degrees with a relative humidity of 64 percent about 1 a.m. Sunday. By 8 a.m., Sunday the temperature climbed to 59 degrees with an 87 percent relative humidity.
The National Weather Service was forecasting another cold night Monday into Tuesday with a low temperature of 59 degrees before warming up to the low 60s through the remainder of the week.
