Lānaʻi's only harbor is closed due to significant damage from Hurricane Lowell. The port is where the island is served by a single, once-a-week barge. Maui County Councilmember Gabe Johnson of Lānaʻi calls Kaumālapaʻu Harbor a lifeline for the small island, and said its closure leaves the community in a concerning position.
Johnson said he inspected the harbor yesterday and stressed that conditions there are dangerous.
“There's two significant sinkholes that have been undercut from the swell,” he told HPR. “They basically carved underneath the concrete, and concrete fell through. Then the jacks at the end of our pier, these giant one-ton jacks, we lost about 10 foot off of that, got shaved off. They're missing. Some of the shipping containers are missing, and one is on the other side of the bay, so they might be underwater. And then there's a big machine that uses cables to pin the barge against the harbor during high swells, so it doesn't move. One's missing, so that might be underwater somewhere.”
Johnson said in addition to structural damage, underwater debris poses a risk to the barge's safe docking.
“So it's all up to the state coming over, doing the assessment, and looking at alternate ways to bring stuff over in the meantime, because we do have very short food supply,” said Johnson. “We've [got] 25 days of fuel on the island. Hopefully, we can get this up and running soon. There's already lines at the gas station.”
On Tuesday, lines to the island's gas station extended down the road, and fuel limits were implemented.
Johnson urged Lānaʻi residents to conserve gas.
Young Brothers announced it cancelled Tuesday's barge sailing from Honolulu to Kaumālapaʻu, saying the company is not accepting cargo for the route until further notice, pending the state Department of Transportation reopening the harbor.
The HDOT assessed the harbor Sept. 8 and targets restoration within one week.
