OnsceneALERT
Dec 9, 20212 min
Updated: Jun 14, 2023
CRITICAL INCIDENT NOTIFICATION
POWER GRID FAILURE
About 1,500 customers across Maui were still without power on Tuesday evening as Hawaiian Electric crews continued to respond to scattered outages and make repairs of lines and poles damaged in the passing Kona low storm.
While crews are working as quickly as possible and additional field crews from Oahu have joined the efforts, Hawaiian Electric warned that restoration will take time and that affected customers in parts of Kula, Pukalani, Haiku, Maui Meadows, Wailuku, and Lahaina should prepare for a possible extended overnight outage.
After completing repairs of damaged transmission lines supplying power to Upcountry, South and West Maui, crews are working through hundreds of distribution and individual service line outages across the island. Such restorations can take time, as each area has varying degrees of damage to electrical equipment, such as downed power lines and poles, Hawaiian Electric said. Some places have limited access due to fallen trees, remaining stormwater and large debris.
Shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday, Hawaiian Electric reported that:
• In parts of Kula, crews continue to make repairs in various neighborhoods to multiple damaged and downed poles and numerous spans of downed lines that provide power to individual homes. Parts of Kula Highway have been restored along with critical infrastructure such as Kula Hospital as crews continue to work in different pockets of the Kula area.
• In Pukalani, a pocket of customers remain without power because lines serving the area are in a gulch still containing rising storm runoff, making it unsafe for crews to begin restoration to that circuit as of Tuesday evening.
• In Haiku, crews brought customers in parts of East Kuiaha Road, Lepo Street and the Haiku Community Center area back online and are addressing remaining pockets in the area.
• In Maui Meadows, work is being done to restore electrical equipment used to protect the main electrical system from energy surges and overloading that can occur during and after disturbances to the system, such as the recent storm.
• Crews are also addressing individual pocket outages in the Lahaina and Wailuku areas with reports of damaged power lines and other electrical equipment. Since Sunday, an estimated 22,000 Maui customers experienced brief to extended power outages caused by gusty winds and fallen trees on the island’s transmission and distribution system.
Crews worked through the night in areas that were safe to access and continued with restoration efforts Tuesday to bring customers in parts of Haiku to Nahiku, Pukalani, Kihei, Paia and Lahaina back online. Hawaiian Electric also reminded people to stay at least 30 feet away from downed power lines, which are energized and dangerous.
Source Agency (MauiNews)
Alerting Agency: OnsceneALERT.com
Subscribe to receive disaster & critical incident alerts like these on your mobile device
Visit us at www.OnsceneALERT.com
OnsceneALERT is a multi-award-winning emergency notification provider when critical incidents threaten public safety;
such as disasters, violent threats, and significant events.
Our community-based mobile alerts provide critical incident awareness of emerging threats and approaching disasters throughout the United States so individuals can be better prepared to protect themselves and their loved ones. Our alerts also increase emergency preparedness and disaster readiness for individuals, families, businesses, schools, government, faith-based organizations, and many more.
OnSceneALERT
"Disasters Don't Give Warnings, But We Do"
Incident Number
2-211208-4501
Alert Type
Critical Incident Notification
Incident Type
Power Grid Failure
Incident Occurred
December 8, 2021
Alert Posted
December 8, 2021
Location
Maui, Hawaii
END OF ALERT