Hawaiian Electric says major repairs from Hurricane Lala completed on Big island ahead of schedule

Hawaiian Electric announced that it has completed repairs to all major portions of its electrical system damaged by Hurricane Lala, restoring service to customers who can be safely reconnected a week earlier than the utility’s previous estimate.

All around the Big Island, more than 65,700 customers lost electricity during the storm.

The utility had initially warned that some customers in areas hit hardest by flooding, mudslides and other storm damage might remain without electricity until Sept. 8.

But last week, Hawaiian Electric pledged to restore power to 99% of affected customers on the Big Island by Aug. 28.

Now, the remaining outages are likely due to damage to customer property or to access issues, with the exception of Wood Valley in the Kaʻū area.

Floodwaters washed away sections of Wood Valley Road where some utility poles were located. With uncertainty about when the roadway will be rebuilt, Hawaiian Electric said it is not waiting for the reconstruction and is rerouting its lines and making additional system improvements to restore service there more quickly.

Hawaiian Electric received help from employees from Southern California Edison, who began arriving Aug. 18 through the Western Region Mutual Assistance Group. Crews from neighbor-islands also spent long hours to help with the Big Island recovery.

“We have been in the field and behind the scenes working night and day to safely help our communities,” said Jim Alberts, Hawaiian Electric’s senior vice president and chief operations officer, in a news release.

Lala brought powerful winds and heavy rain to Hawaiʻi Island on Aug. 15 and 16 as the storm’s center passed about 35 miles south of the island. Wind gusts reached 91 mph in Kohala, bringing down trees and damaging utility poles, power lines and transmission towers.

In Kaʻū, torrential rainfall triggered severe flash flooding that washed out roads and bridges and destroyed utility poles, complicating restoration efforts.

Crews repaired 21 damaged transmission lines, along with numerous distribution lines that carry electricity to individual communities. Hawaiian Electric also brought in outside help after requesting mutual assistance from mainland utilities on Aug. 16, the utility said.

The utility also used some repairs as an opportunity to reinforce its system. In areas with elevated wildfire risk, crews are replacing some copper wire with aluminum wire as part of restoration work intended to improve resilience.

Customers whose electrical equipment may have been submerged by floodwaters must have their systems inspected by a licensed electrician and certified as safe before Hawaiian Electric can reconnect service. The requirement is intended to prevent dangers including electric shock and electrical fires.

Customers can find information about the reconnection process and available assistance through Hawaiian Electric, while county and state agencies may also help residents locate licensed electricians.

The storm highlighted the continuing threat posed by vegetation. Hawaiian Electric said more than half of the outages on Hawaiʻi Island during Lala were caused by invasive albizia trees and other vegetation falling onto poles and power lines.

The company spends about $20 million annually on vegetation management and said it has removed or trimmed about 20,000 trees on Hawaiʻi Island during the first six months of this year. Restoration in some communities was delayed while crews waited for storm debris to be cleared from roads. Saturated ground also caused additional trees and branches to fall while repairs were underway.

Crews are continuing preparations for additional storms as the hurricane season runs through November.

“Addressing the risk that overgrown trees and vegetation pose to our island infrastructure is both urgent and essential,” Alberts said, adding that the utility will continue working with government agencies and other partners on vegetation management.

The damage from Lala was extensive but did not match the number of poles lost during Hurricane Iselle, which struck Hawaiʻi Island in 2014. Iselle damaged or destroyed 210 poles, primarily in Puna, and left about 25,000 customers without electricity.

Lala affected communities across the island, but Hawaiian Electric said it lost 174 of its approximately 60,000 utility poles on Hawaiʻi Island, which the company attributed in part to resilience improvements made since Iselle.

“We know that extended outages are more than an inconvenience,” Alberts said. “We thank our customers for their patience and support as our employees and mainland utility crews safely rebuilt miles of infrastructure as quickly as possible.”