Hawaii Island braces for Hurricane Kiko impacts

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Hawaii Island looks like it may avoid the brunt of Hurricane Kiko’s severe weather. But some residents aren’t taking any chances.

Pepeekeo resident Kevin Van Ness rushed to Home Depot on Friday morning to stock up on supplies for him, his wife and seven children, including trash bags and four generators.

“You never know what can happen to the power plant or the power of the power poles, anything like that. So if something does happen. At least we’ll still have power for our food and our families,” he said.

While Kiko’s not expected to impact the islands til next week, he’s preparing now.

“We still got to go get oil, gas, propane, toilet papers, different things like that around. So we still got quite a few things to do.” he said.

Meantime, the County has activated its Emergency Operations Center.

Hawaii County Mayor Kimo Alameda said they’re tracking the storm with civil defense, federal and state officials, taking a cue from 2014’s Tropical Storm Iselle, which initially was expected to weaken, but became the strongest tropical cyclone to make landfall on Hawaii Island.

“We are ready and we are ready to engage when the time when the time comes,” he said.

Crews have been clearing debris and drainage areas and filling sand bags.

Flooding and power outages are big concerns, especially for the East Side and Hamakua Coast, along with damaging surf and strong winds.

“Given the Lahaina situation, we’re all super conscientious of trees and power lines and trees that are too close to the house, not just because it might fall in the house, but you know if there’s a fire that becomes an issue,” Alameda said.

“We’re reviewing our emergency procedures, going through our checklist, checking through our staffing plans to make sure that we have all the resources and the people that we’re gonna need to respond to any kind of impacts,” said HECO spokesman Darren Pai.

The County is also tapping into federal resources, including U.S. Coast Guard assets and about 2,500 Hawaii National Guard airmen who are on island for training and now on standby should they be needed.

Acting Gov. Sylvia Luke issued an emergency proclamation on Friday, declaring a state of emergency across Hawaii ahead of Hurricane Kiko.

“With that emergency proclamation, it affords me the authority and access to funding that I don’t normally have to place soldiers and airmen into a state active duty status, and we can reduce our response times,” said Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Director Steve Logan.

“Of course we hope for the best, but you know the worst thing is to not be prepared and have regrets after,” Alameda said.

Officials advise residents to:

• Secure loose items that could go airborne and cause damage
• Remove debris that may block drainage and increase the chance of flooding
• Review your emergency plan, including evacuation routes, meeting locations, and shelter sites
• Check each person’s “go bag” has three days of food, water, medication, and other necessities
• Pack a flashlight, battery-powered radio, and copies of important documents
• Set up a point of contact off-island who can pass along messages if local communications are disrupted
• Make sure your vehicle’s fuel tank is at least half-full.
• Sign up for emergency alert messages on the Hawaii County Civil Defense website at bit.ly/HCCDAlerts

And don’t wait till the last minute to get supplies, in order to avoid the crowded rush we saw during the tsunami warning.

“We’ve been through this before, so just making sure that everybody’s safe, all in one place, cancel all the sporting events and things that we do just to stay home as a family,” Van Ness said.