Damage to public property alone from last month’s flooding and landslides adds up to more than $19.7 million, and 532 homes on Oahu and Kauai were affected — 115 of them left with major damage or
destroyed.
The tallies released Wednesday by the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency on the impact of
the April 13-16 storm did not include an overall damage estimate. There are still no tallies for how many businesses were damaged or
destroyed, and HI-EMA did not say out of the total how many of the damaged or
destroyed homes were on Oahu and how many were on the Garden Isle. Five of the 532 were “second homes.”
Gov. David Ige said he is “very confident” that President Donald Trump will sign a federal disaster declaration for Hawaii. At an afternoon news conference Wednesday, Ige said that declaration will help the state and Honolulu and Kauai counties recoup unspecified “millions of dollars” they have already paid out.
“We feel pretty confident in our conversation with (federal officials) that a
federal disaster will be
declared,” Ige said, pointing out that the state has been working closely with Federal Emergency Management Agency officials. The state has tallied more than the required amount needed for a disaster declaration, he said.
The counties and the state, Ige said, “had to redirect funds that were intended for different projects.” So the federal aid, he said, represents “reimbursement after the fact.”
But Ige could offer little guidance for homeowners faced with rebuilding.
“We clearly don’t have authorization (for) funding individuals,” he said.
Rainfall totals for the
48-hour period that ended
at 6 p.m. April 15 showed that 32.35 inches fell on the now-isolated community of Wainiha and 28.41 inches on the nearby community of Hanalei.
The damage assessment was conducted between April 22 and April 27. HI-EMA spokesman Lt. Col. Chuck Anthony told the
Honolulu Star-Advertiser that “Kauai would be a higher figure” in terms of both cost and the number
of homes that were damaged or destroyed.
The American Red Cross Hawaii Chapter, which went door to door assessing properties, reported last week that on Oahu three homes were destroyed, 65 homes sustained major damage and another 146 sustained minor damage or were
affected in some manner.
The $19.7 million estimate for damage to public property does not include expenses such as the costs to remove debris from county roads on Oahu, the cost to remove green waste from Kauai County beaches or the cost to the state Department of Education to open a makeshift school in the isolated community of Haena on Kauai’s north shore.
But the numbers will play a role in whether Trump will declare “a major disaster,” along with federal aid, HI-EMA said.
Hawaii’s application for a declaration could include other variables, HI-EMA said, such as “the concentration of damages; trauma, including whether there have been a large number of injuries or deaths or a large-scale disruption of normal community functions; whether special populations are impacted, such as the elderly, low income, or the unemployed; the extent to which voluntary agencies and state and local programs can meet the needs of those affected; the extent to which the property affected is covered by insurance; and the average amount of individual assistance offered by the state.”
Ige signed the “Request for a Presidential Disaster Declaration” Wednesday after he received the preliminary damage assessment.
The governor is asking for assistance from the Public Assistance Grant Program, the Individual Assistance Program, and the Small Business Administration Disaster Assistance program for Oahu and Kauai, as well as assistance from the Hazard Mitigation Grant program statewide.
The floods and landslides resulted in the evacuation
of more than 475 people via U.S. Army Chinook and
Hawaii Army National Guard Black Hawk helicopters,
and an unknown number of people were rescued by a volunteer flotilla of boats. U.S. Army helicopter crews delivered an estimated 43,000 pounds of food, water and clothing.
The state is also seeking reimbursement of some
$35 million for reconstruction and repairs to Kauai’s Kuhio Highway through the Federal Highway Administration’s Emergency Relief program.
“The roadwork required will be quite extensive,” Ige said.
The state is establishing an agricultural loan program for farmers who sustained significant losses in the storm, Ige said. Those receiving the loans won’t need to begin payments until their farms are back in production and generating revenues, he said.
Additionally, the state is asking for assistance for small businesses and residential property owners, and for permission to provide unemployment benefits to those who normally would not qualify but are
unable to work due to the
disaster.
A $125 million aid package passed by the Legislature will help replenish funds used to help with the storm damage that had been diverted from other needs, Ige said. “Clearly that appropriation will allow us to balance the books again,” he said.
Kauai Mayor Bernard Carvalho proclaimed an emergency for the Garden Isle on April 14, and a state emergency proclamation followed on April 15.
Mayor Kirk Caldwell proclaimed an emergency for Honolulu on April 18. Ige issued a supplementary proclamation the same day that expanded his original proclamation to include the city, his office said.
At Honolulu Hale, the Council Budget Committee advanced two bills designed to provide tax relief to Oahu homeowners and farmers who sustained damage following the storm.