Many Molokaʻi communities were hit hard by the recent Kona low storms, including the remote peninsula of Kalaupapa.
“During the height of the storm, over that weekend, there were no flights in or out of Kalaupapa,” said Mikiʻala Pescaia, who serves as the lay kahu for Kanaʻana Hou and Siloama Congregational Churches in Kalaupapa. She said the trail from topside Molokaʻi was also closed due to hazardous conditions.
“Everyone who lives in Kalaupapa understands how vulnerable you are, and you really need to not take any chances. You cannot risk some medical emergency, because the air ambulance is not going to come to get you.”
Pescaia is a Molokaʻi resident who normally lives in Kalaupapa about half of each week.
“Trees down, flooding, there was damage to some roofs,” she said of the storm impacts in the settlement. “And it's the people who are on the ground there having to make do with what knowledge and skills they have to just continue to maintain safety.”
Pescaia said utility and heavy equipment operators were trying to get into Kalaupapa to help mitigate those storm impacts, but all avenues were closed.
“It's just something scary to live through, with the amount of torrential rain and how long it lasted. It completely flooded out whole sections that made it couldn't drive down the road. You just wait it out. And that's what everybody did. They just hunkered down, stayed safe, and waited the storm out.”
