HELCO Continues Response to Outages

Hawai’i Electric Light crews continue to work to restore electricity to the remaining 30 customers who are without power. PC: Hawai’i Electric Light Co.

Hawai‘i Electric Light employees continue to respond to power outages caused by Hurricane Lane which was downgraded to a tropical storm late Friday afternoon, Aug. 24, 2018.

Since Wednesday, about 9,500 customers around the island experienced a power outage, caused mostly by trees falling on power lines.

Currently, fewer than 30 customers in lower Puna, Hāmākua and Hilo are without power.

Crews are working to safely restore power as quickly as possible. However, restoration efforts may be delayed due to hazardous weather and multiple road closures in some areas.

“We urge the community to continue to keep safety top of mind,” said Kristen Okinaka, public information officer. “Steady rain and flooding can uproot trees and break branches which could fall on power lines and snap utility poles. Downed power lines can be energized and dangerous. Stay away and call us immediately to report it.”

To report downed lines and power outages, please call (808) 969-6666. Outage notifications will be posted on the company’s Twitter account @HIElectricLight with the hashtag #BigIslandOutage.

Hawai‘i Electric Light’s Customer Service and Engineering offices will reopen to walk-in customers on Monday, Aug. 27. The company closed its business offices last Thursday and Friday due to hazardous weather and dangerous road conditions caused by Hurricane Lane.