Kauai community comes to aid of hard-hit North Shore residents
WAINIHA, Kauai — Sara Carsia was putting her kids to bed when she looked outside her window and saw a river flowing through her property in Wainiha.
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She and her husband, Zak, rushed outside, securing everything they could. They had prepared for Hurricane Lowell — they boarded windows and bought sandbags — but without power or cell service, they weren’t notified that the Wainiha River had risen from 7 feet to 15-1/2 feet in an hour.
As the river surged through their yard, the Carsias attempted to save what items they could from disappearing or crashing into their house.
They tied off their deep freezer. Then their propane tank got loose. Sara Carsia jumped on top of it, then attached it to one of their pillars. They delivered any small items to their 20-year-old niece and 9-year-old son, who were watching them scramble.
The water was waste-high, and the property’s septic system likely contaminated the water they were wading in. She luckily had time to shower before the water cut off.
High-water marks show that the cottage her niece lived in had 3 feet of water inside, while her mom’s cottage, which is at the front of the property, had a few inches. Carsia’s family home, where she and her husband live with their three kids, had around a foot of water on the first floor.
When Hanalei Initiative and Kauai Resilience Team member Honey Chandler arrived at Carsia’s residence to do a housing assessment, she saw Carsia shoveling the contaminated mud with her hands.
“I didn’t want anyone to help me,” Carsia said, adding that she felt the contamination from her family’s septic tank should only be cleaned by her.
But on Tuesday — exactly one week since the storm — a team of volunteers was helping Carsia get her yard safe enough for the neighborhood kids who regularly hang out at her house and ask for snacks.
“It’s so sad. I’m like, ‘You guys can’t be here,’” she said. “There’s poop water everywhere.”
Volunteers removed the soaked drywall and furniture from the cottage and were helping clean the yard, but Carsia was awaiting a delivery of N-95 masks to clean the contaminated water from inside her home.
Chandler said residents on the North Shore rarely ask for help, often assuming assistance would be better spent by someone who needs it more.
“We’re having to find them,” Chandler said. “People out here, they’re hammers. They’re just like, ‘We’re staying home and going to figure it out.’”
The residents from Wainiha to Haena are expected to live without power for at least a few more weeks.
As of Tuesday evening, 6,357 of the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative’s customers, roughly 17%, couldn’t turn their lights on, with more than half of those on the North Shore.
Meanwhile, Kauai County officials said Tuesday that they have logged 716 resident-submitted Lowell damage assessments, with 18 homes destroyed and 101 homes severely damaged. Residents are encouraged to file a report at bit.ly/kauaidamage. The reports may help Kauai qualify for state and federal aid, officials said.
Two county hurricane resource centers opened Tuesday so residents can meet with nonprofit and county staff in-person for assistance with recovery needs. The centers, which will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, are at the Hanalei Neighborhood Center and the Koloa Neighborhood Center on the south shore.
On the North Shore, the Wainiha Bridges also have been compromised, with only one car at a time allowed to cross as of Tuesday evening. They have a maximum weight limit of 5 tons, while the typical passenger vehicle weighs around 2 tons, according to the Hawaii Department of Transportation.
The limitation has prevented heavy equipment from being transported to the communities that need it most.
The recovery response from Wainiha to Haena has largely fallen on community members themselves. Two main hubs are on either side of the bridge, one primarily organizing labor volunteers at Makamae Street and the other organizing and distributing donations at the Wainiha Country Market.
At the “biggest little market” on the North Shore, mother-daughter team Joell and Gabi Edwards were sitting for what felt like the first time in days.
The two took over the market in 2019 following the 2018 floods, and knew it would be home to a hub in the event of a disaster.
“It’s a default setting,” Gabi Edwards said. “I love my community. I care about my community. I love living here. I couldn’t imagine now. It doesn’t make sense to me to not jump for your community at all.”
The night of the storm, the Edwardses had go-bags ready to evacuate to a friend’s house, but planned to shelter in place. They expected the storm’s impacts to be centered on wind damage, but when Joell Edwards opened the door to take her dogs to the bathroom around 8:30 p.m., she was knee-deep in water.
Gabi Edwards ran to her car and the two loaded in their belongings and were off to an aunty’s house within 15 minutes. Joell narrowly escaped a falling tree.
“That’s when things were getting hairy, but we made it,” Joell said. “I just yelled at the sky and said I was brave and strong and I’ll be fine. And I was.”
Around 7 a.m. the next day, they went straight to the store, did a lap inside, did a lap outside, then immediately began setting up a Starlink internet connection. Since then, the market has collected and distributed fuel, pet food, cleaning supplies, produce, hot meals and several other items to anyone who stops by.
Nowhere was the community effort more evident than driving down Wainiha Powerhouse Road.
The morning after Lowell, the street was essentially impassable and residents were trapped in their homes by fallen trees and power poles. But on Tuesday, the road was mostly clear, with chainsawed remains of poles and trees pushed to the side and downed power lines lifted high enough for cars to get through with makeshift attachments to ladders and posts.
At least three collapsed albizia trees remained suspended directly above the road, being held up by power lines as residents drove underneath them. At least one other pole had tipped across the road, held up by the hillside. Power lines were tangled in guardrails and foliage and several power poles had been decapitated or split.
The Wainiha hydroelectric plant is at the back of the road, where debris is even thicker. Around a dozen large trees had fallen across the road, all chainsawed to allow a narrow vehicle to drive through as an albizia tree hung overhead. Trees smashed several areas of the plant’s fence.
The destruction leaves residents doubtful that they will have power anytime soon.
