The Night of Lowell, the Day After on Lānaʻi
story and photos by Anthony Kaauamo
September 7, Monday night, while Hurricane Lowell passed west of the islands, the surge at Kaumālapaʻu began hitting harder. People at the harbor said it intensified around 7 p.m., enough to rock the containers stacked outside the breakwater.
“That’s when I knew, I’m outta here,” a person who witnessed the scene said.
By the next morning, two of those containers were across the bay on the rocky shoreline.
Other damage was harder to miss. Pavement had collapsed into sinkholes. Debris was scattered around the harbor. Some of the 35-ton Core-Loc units installed during the 2006–07 reconstruction of the breakwater had been knocked out of place.
But not the old hand-cut stone wall.
Built in 1925 under Japanese stone mason Tokumatsu Murayama, the wall was still standing, even after the pavement in front of and beneath it had collapsed. Murayama led stonework projects across Lānaʻi during the early plantation era, when skilled Japanese carpenters and stone masons were instrumental in the building of Lānaʻi City.
By Tuesday morning, photos and cell phone videos of the damage were already circulating around Lānaʻi. As people began seeing what had happened at Kaumālapaʻu, attention quickly turned to what a closed harbor could mean in the days ahead.
Several people later waiting in the gas line said social media was how they first saw the damage. One man said his wife told him that morning they might want to think about getting gas. He drives up and down to Mānele every day for work, so he headed to the station.
By around 9 a.m., vehicles were lining up for fuel, eventually stretching to Queens Street. Atreyu Hanog said he took his mother-in-law’s car to fill it up and ended up waiting about two hours. By the time he was nearing the pump, he was leaning back in his seat, cruising through the wait.
“Yeah, she watching the kids, so I got this for her,” Atreyu said.
That relaxed mood seemed to carry through much of the line.
“Nah, we’re pretty chill. ‘Cause what are you gonna do?” Ben Ostrander said.
Ben was next for the pump when a silver Nissan Frontier pulled in from Lānaʻi Avenue without having waited in line.
“Did she just cut?” Ben said. He looked back at the line behind him. No one reacted. Ben shrugged.
Just then, Chavis Sarme and Charline Clarabal pulled out of the station.
“We go surf!” Ben called out to them.
Richard’s Market stayed busy from morning into the evening. Pine Isle Market saw heavy traffic earlier in the day, with rice and toilet paper among the hot items.
Corie Espiritu said Pine Isle had been “nonstop crazy busy” through about 1 p.m., with the line wrapping around toward the back of the store. The store had been expecting its regular barge delivery Wednesday, but Corie said that delivery would not be coming.
That left Pine Isle looking at how to get essential items such as water and baby milk to Lānaʻi if the harbor remained closed. Corie said that once shelves ran down, the store would likely have to rely on air freight.
“No hoarding, no overbuying. Like, we have to survive on this with what we have,” Corie said.
By Tuesday evening, the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation said Kaumālapaʻu remained closed as crews continued assessing damage from Hurricane Lowell. HDOT said restoration of the harbor was being targeted within the week, though it did not give a specific reopening date.
Young Brothers canceled the Kaumālapaʻu portion of its Tuesday sailing and said the port would remain closed to cargo until further notice.