POIPU, Hawaii — On Kauai’s south shore, Hurricane Lowell lifted a home off its foundation and split it in two, the storm’s powerful winds thrusting part of the structure across the street.At a nearby Sheraton hotel, the hurricane carried several cars across the parking lot and destroyed the hotel’s oceanfront restaurant.
Its pool sits full of sand.These are just two of the many scenes of destruction the hurricane has left in Hawaii after lashing the state’s western islands with heavy rain, widespread flooding and tropical-storm-force winds on Monday and Tuesday.Now the extensive recovery efforts begin.A flood watch was issued on Monday in Maui County.Michelle Bir / AFP via Getty ImagesLowell passed just west of the islands of Niihau and Kauai on Monday as a Category 2 hurricane, prompting the National Weather Service to issue the state’s first-ever tornado watch.Flash flooding was widespread across Kauai, where the NWS recorded preliminary rainfall totals of up to 21 inches.In a video update Wednesday, Kauai County Mayor Derek Kawakami said crews had been dispatched islandwide to assess the aftermath of the storm.“Plan to be without power for a while,” he said.
“Some areas should expect several days or longer.”Around 80% of homes and businesses remain without power in Kauai County — more than 30,000 customers — according to the tracker poweroutage.us.Wind and storm surge damaged homes and other structures in the hurricane's path.Guy Miller / Honolulu Civil Beat via APGentry Cruz, who manages the property that the storm split in half, was resigned while surveying the extent of the destruction.“It sucks, but I mean, you cannot do nothing about it,” he said.
“Mother Nature is Mother Nature.”In Waimea, on Kauai’s southwest coast, Facebook user Benjamin E.J.Apilado shared footage of the destruction in his neighborhood early Tuesday morning, showing fallen coconut trees, downed power lines and an uprooted mango tree that had narrowly ...