Last Updated: Sept. 8, 8:30 p.m. ET
Hurricane Lowell brought fierce winds, torrential rains and flooding to the island of Kauai beginning Monday night, causing widespread power outages that affected more than 90% of consumer-members served by Kauai Island Utility Cooperative by Tuesday morning.
The Category 2 hurricane didn’t make landfall on Kauai, but it still caused destruction from about 80 miles west of the island, bringing wind gusts up to 85 mph, dangerous surf and a deluge that closed roads and forced about 300 people to evacuate from homes along the coast.
KIUC reported that 33,319 of its 36,333 members—or nearly 92%—had lost electricity by early Tuesday as the hurricane blew down trees, power poles and lines. Lowell, which also caused damage on Oahu, began to move north away from Kauai toward the open sea later in the day as it weakened to a Category 1 hurricane. As of mid-afternoon Tuesday, the co-op was reporting 32,853 outages.
KIUC, in a press release Tuesday, said it was assessing damage to its approximately 1,500 miles of transmission and distribution lines across Kauai.
“The assessment and restoration effort will be extensive,” the co-op said. “Road closures, debris and other access limitations may also affect the ability of crews to reach damaged areas.”
KIUC President and CEO David Bissell said the co-op’s top priority is “making sure conditions are safe for our crews, emergency responders and the public.”
“We know our members want to know when their power will be restored,” Bissell said. “Right now, we need to understand the extent of the damage and what repairs are necessary before we can provide reliable restoration estimates.”
The co-op said it is mobilizing all of its available resources to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. Members should prepare for outages that could last several days or even longer in some areas, KIUC said in its statement.
“This will be a significant island-wide restoration effort, and we ask for our members’ patience as our crews work to assess the system and begin repairs,” Bissell said. “We will provide restoration estimates as soon as we have enough information to do so responsibly.”
Erin Kelly is a staff writer for NRECA.