Roughly 13,000 Hawaii Electric Light Co. customers briefly lost power Monday afternoon after a fast-moving thunderstorm blew through East Hawaii, damaging homes and dropping more than an inch of rain on some areas.
HELCO said outages began shortly after 2 p.m. and were mostly restored within a few minutes.
Outage areas included Waiakea Uka, Hawaiian Paradise Park, Orchidland, Pahoa, Kalapana and Leilani Estates, said HELCO spokeswoman Kristen Okinaka. She said outages were triggered by high winds and lightning. She said at least two transmission lines were impacted.
Hilo Medical Center also briefly lost power, said Hawaii County Civil Defense CERT Coordinator Bill Hanson.
Civil Defense also confirmed several homes in the Panaewa area of Hilo lost part of their roofs because of high winds during the storm. Late Monday afternoon, crews were still assessing damage, but Hanson thought the number of homes with roof damage was fewer than 10.
“It was a quick-striking thunderstorm which moved through the Ka‘u area, then through the Puna area, then Hilo, and then on its way out,” Hanson said. “In its wake, it left heavy rain in the Pahala area, in Puna and Hilo. And there also were lightning strikes reported in both Puna and Hilo, as well as downed trees in the Puna area.”
In downtown Hilo, The Most Irresistible Shop closed Monday afternoon due to about an inch of flooding. The store posted a photo on Facebook that showed water pooled on the carpet.
Owner Tracie Yoshimoto said the store was working to dry out the carpet and hoped to reopen today.
“It just happened so quickly. By the time we reacted, it was really too late,” Yoshimoto said. “It was soaked. Not shoppable.”
Mayor Harry Kim called the brief storm “a scary one.”
The rain gauge at Hilo International Airport registered 1.15 inches of rain between noon and 3 p.m. Monday alone. Some areas reported wind gusts of about 50 mph.
“Words like, ‘this is a severe thunderstorm’ and ‘rapidly moving,’ they don’t use those words very often,” Kim said, referring to a severe thunderstorm warning that was in effect for part of Monday afternoon. “ … I’m using every opportunity (such as this storm) to train staff.”
The storm was the “last hurrah” of a severe weather system that impacted Hawaii Island this past weekend, said Robert Ballard, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Honolulu.
Between Friday and Monday, the Hilo airport registered 0.76 of an inch of rain, the Kona airport reported 0.82 of an inch and Waikoloa reported 1.71 inches.
Ballard said conditions are predicted to improve starting today and into the week.
Email Kirsten Johnson at kjohnson@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
Power outages lasted many hours, not “a few minutes”. We lost power in Leilani Estates in Pahoa from 5PM to 5AM this morning.