While many residents across the state are recovering from Hurricane Lala’s damage, some have been able to get back on their feet thanks to help from their community.
Waiʻanae resident Jamie Lee Troyer heard that the worst of Lala was supposed to happen throughout Saturday night and into Sunday morning. The loud wind kept her and her kids up for most of the night, but she thought Oʻahu was in the clear come Sunday morning.
But the wind did not die down; rather, it strengthened enough to knock branches off trees, fences off yards and solar panels off of her neighbors’ houses.
“It was raining shingles at one point,” Troyer said.
Her husband and several other residents in her Māʻili cul-de-sac were outside trying to collect the parts of their houses that were being torn off and tossed into the street.
“He called me while I was in the living room with my kids, and he told me to get away from the window because the tree was about to come down,” she recalled.
Once the rain mixed with the windy conditions, a large tree uprooted and fell into their yard, taking out a part of the fence and several other small trees in its path. But Troyer said if it wasn’t for the palm trees, the larger trunk would have gone straight through her window.
She said her neighbors immediately checked in on her family, helped pull the tree off her house, and brought chainsaws to cut it down — all while dealing with damage to their own homes.
“It literally made me cry; it's just absolutely amazing and I can't say enough how much that means to me,” Troyer said. “What made everything so positive was getting to see how they help each other. It really showed us that yes, the house is important, but it can be fixed. That’s all material stuff, but what really matters is the people you have around you.”
Troyer knows that she and her family are lucky, and that many others across the state are dealing with a much more personal and longer road to recovery. But she hopes that her experience will be an example of how communities across Hawaiʻi continue to show up for each other.
Troyer said social media has been a big help in finding resources and reaching those who are in need, and she hopes more people will be able to access the resources they need in order to recover.
To help others or find resources in the wake of Hurricane Lala, click here.
