some lowdown on the storms in hawai‘i: there have been two (possibly going on three) straight weeks of historic storms in the hawaiian islands. these are enormous rain dumping weather systems, also bringing wind and high surf. these storms are so bad because they are coming up from the south (called a kona low), rather than east to west as most of our weather moves. some areas have gotten as much as two feet of rain in a matter of hours. because of the unusual direction of the storm, infrastructure and the environment are ill-prepared, and break easier. the worst affected areas right now are the north shore of o‘ahu, and the east and southern shores of hawai‘i island. it is a crazy and still-developing situation as damage is being assessed from this past weekend, and its still raining.
here are some articles on the damage: the wahiawa dam on o‘ahu is one of the biggest stories right now; it is owned by the dole company (owners of former plantation land across the islands) and the company has neglected repair for several years. this is a survey of damage from waienae and hale‘iwa on o‘ahu. this is an accounting of some damage in kona on hawai‘i island. this is a less detailed article about school closures. sadly, there is very little investigative reporting on hawai‘i island and it is hard to find reliable sources. anecdotally, I know many homes are still without power for almost two weeks.
finally, here is a list of places to donate money for recovery efforts. the most important things right now are food and shelter needs for people displaced from their homes. i also have aggregated links to gofundmes etc, but please ask me for those individually; i dont feel comfortable sharing them on the big wide internet. the concern is appreciated; it can be difficult to convey the scale and variety of damage because hawai‘i nei is not very well understood.
