UPDATE: Power back on for all customers who had outages because of strong Big Island earthquake

This story was updated at 6:15 p.m. Saturday, May 23, 2026.

Hawaiian Electric reported in a 5 p.m. Saturday, May 23, update that power has been restored to the remaining customers in South Kona who lost electricity after a strong magnitude-6.0 earthquake struck Friday night, May 22, in that area on the west side of the Big Island.

The electric utility reported by about 10:30 a.m. Saturday there were about 70 of the 1,000 customers who lost power because of the earthquake still without power.

Hawai‘i County Civil Defense Administrator Talmadge Magno said Saturday morning that some of those who experienced outages were because of more significant damage, even to the point where power lines separated from homes.

He said there also might have been damage to some electrical transformers.

Crews worked since late Friday night to restore power to customers affected by the earthquake.

The utility also reported that power was fully restored to customers in Keauhou after crews completed repairs to a pole and lines damaged by an early Saturday morning traffic crash.

About 20 customers in Keauhou were still without power as of about 10:30 a.m. Saturday because of the crash.

Meanwhile, despite a wind advisory being canceled early Saturday for north, south and southeast portions of the Big Island, the utility’s incident management team continues to keep a close watch on the weather in the Kawaihae and Waikōloa areas, both locations with high exposure to wildfire risk.