Hurricane Iniki's Effect On Hawaii

On September 11, 1992 at exactly 5:15 am, the sound of sirens filled the island of Kauai. This was the day that the category 4 hurricane Iniki hit Hawaii. Iniki was the most powerful storm, the deadliest, and by far the costliest storm ever to strike Hawaii. The death toll of six was remarkably small for such an intense hurricane, however the cost for damage repair was insanely high. Iniki caused roughly $3 billion in damages. More than 14,000 homes were affected, with 1,421 completely destroyed. While the 145 mph winds were the cause of most of the damages, storm surge and waves obliterated many structures along Kauai’s southern shore. The entire island of Kauai was blown away. Kauai, however, was not the only island that was affected by the
He was living with his father and step-mother on the south shore of O’ahu. He was currently attending graduate school doing his student teaching, hoping to later become a teacher. Many people, including my father, ignored the early warnings of an incoming storm on the news, because of how often storms hit Hawaii. It was common for storms to aim toward the islands, and then turn away, or slowly die out. The media continued to encourage people to evacuate, and have all of the materials necessary, to prepare for the worst scenario. Still, my dad and his family were convinced that it would not hit them hard. It was not until the day before the storm hit the Islands that the people realized how serious it was. It was now described as a category 4 hurricane heading directly towards O’ahu.

During the previous day of the hurricane, my dad was working at school when all students and staff were directed to evacuate the campus and prepare for what they knew now was an extremely powerful storm. At that moment, nobody thought that the storm was just going to pass by without harming anyone. People grew frantic, and prayed that the storm would calm down, or turn. Lucky for the people on O’ahu, it did. My father and his parents evacuated to his step-mother’s brother’s house, which was on higher grounds, and much
The house he was in was right on the water, and he remembers seeing the surges of water in the ocean. He described is as if “the Earth was shaking itself like a wet dog, back and forth.” He was not just relieved however, he was very scared because he had so many friends that were on Kauai who he couldn’t contact, because the cell towers were down. After several days of no contact, he finally received a call from Keola Sheehan, one of his oldest friends on Kauai. He was glad to hear that everyone he knew was okay, and the weather was calming down, but the stores were still closed, and many were low on food. Keola describes that, “the hardest part of the [after-effects] was having to live off the land when we were low on food.” Sheleigh Masi had the same situation, and explains how her family survived off the land. They were not prepared for the worst, and had to adapt to several things, and live off the land for quite some time after the storm passed. “We discovered that there was bananas and avocados in the back yard, and after catching some pigs, we dug an imu, and we were able to eat the pigs that we caught from the mountains… Fortunately for us, my brother and my step dad were very good at surviving off of the land. When the time comes, there’s no stores to run to.” Many were lucky to know people that were experienced in living off the land, but very many people were not