‘It’s been hard’: Hawaii residents navigate days-long power outages after Lala

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – For thousands of Hawaii residents, the passing of Hurricane Lala was only the beginning of a grueling and increasingly desperate struggle to survive in the dark.

With more than 117,000 customers still without electricity across the state, families are facing their third consecutive day without power, running water, or reliable cellular service.

For many on the ground, the situation is rapidly moving from inconvenient to dire.

Caring for the vulnerable in the dark

Among those facing the hardest challenges are caregivers looking after the elderly and medically vulnerable.

Without electricity to power life-sustaining medical equipment, many are relying on limited resources or generators to get by.

One local caregiver on Oahu said, “My patient is on an oscillating bed she kind of needs the generator for that.”

For others, the only option is to wait. “Just do what we gotta do, hunker down and wait,” another Oahu resident said. “I mean, cannot do anything else.”

The isolation of being cut off from the outside world is adding to the anxiety.

“At first it was a good disconnect, but now it’s been hard,” said Alewa Heights resident Lindsay Simily. “Not being able to find news, I think, is the biggest thing.”

Traveling miles for basic food, water, and cell service

On Hawaii Island, infrastructure collapse has forced families to travel miles outside of their neighborhoods just to find food, ice, and cell reception.

Darde Gamayo of Honokaa was among dozens of residents who drove to Waimea on Monday in a bid to find groceries and check in with anxious loved ones.

“A lot of people filing in, grabbing ice and snack stuff and other food items that they need,” Gamayo said.

“We’re just waiting for power,” she added. “Basically everybody is just trying to get service so they can let their family members outside of the island or the state know that we are all okay and just hanging on.”

Grace Stillman of Kukuihaele made the same drive to Waimea to get a signal on her phone.

“I’m on Verizon, and I’ve had to drive to Waimea in order to get cell service through Verizon. It’s not even working in Honokaa,” she said.

Outside help is on the way

While residents hunker down, a massive multi-agency recovery effort is underway to rebuild the crippled grid.

For the first time, Hawaiian Electric has called for outside assistance, and more than 100 power line technicians from California are flying into the state to assist with repairs.

“What’s different this time is because of the work that needs to be done on Oahu, we made the call over the weekend to hold back our crews here and put the crews from California on Hawaii Island,” said Jim Kelly, Hawaiian Electric vice president of government and community relations and corporate communications.

HECO said damage assessments are complete, and now crews are working as quickly and safely as possible to restore power, though many residents should prepare for at least one more night in the dark.

“The worst thing to do is to put out a restoration time and have people plan around that and then have it not happen,” Kelly said. “For most people on Oahu, the safe thing to do is probably plan for another overnight outage but I know that some of the areas that are out right now will get their power back by the end of the day.”