Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi joined The Conversation live on Monday morning to deliver the latest updates about storm recovery on Oʻahu.
Blangiardi shared information from a briefing with emergency management officials and detailed what the public needs to know as communities clean up after the back-to-back storms.
Interview Highlights
On expediting the recovery process
We're trying to make the recovery as easy as possible, and this is really important. I hope that people hear this. We're removing all the barriers wherever we can. For example, the Department of Environmental Services is waiving the tipping fees to help residents dispose of their debris. We're waiving all tipping fees. Department of Planning and Permitting is allowing emergency repairs to begin immediately without a permit. So as long as safety requests are being met and a permit is filed, there'll be no fees. They can begin to work immediately. DPP is also waiving all building permit fees that are related to the storm damage and cleanup to help accelerate recovery efforts. We want to make this as smooth as we can, and so to support a better way to say it, if your home needs urgent repairs, you can start that work now. Please know you can start that work now.
On the boil water notice on the North Shore
We have a boil water notice, which is still remaining in effect on the North Shore. So please do not use fresh water showers or sinks in city parks, from Mokulēʻia to Turtle Bay, because we're still in the process of testing it now. We've got it kind of working up with this, not only a lot of brown water out there, but we're concerned about people, you know, doing anything, drinking anything, that would be contaminated. So we are providing clean drinking water. It's available at Banzai Skatepark and Waialua District Park, and we hope to have the whole water situation cleaned up as soon as possible, but right now, we want people to err on the side of caution. This may be an abundance of caution, but this is the right thing to do.
On how to assist recovery
We're just asking people to avoid unnecessary travel, going out there around Camp Otake, Otake Camp in Waialua this week. And if you can just, if people could just stay away, be aware of that. And one last thing, if people would like to contribute or make cash donations, we’re accepting them through trusted organizations such as the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, as well as partners like the Red Cross, Hawaiʻi Food Bank, Salvation Army and Aloha United Way. You know, we need money, not other things, not food, not clothing. People need money. That has the greatest and the best impact is the easiest for us to deal with, but more anything allows us to provide the best relief.
Find more of HPR's storm coverage on our website, and storm-related updates at alert.hnlalert.gov.
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This story aired on The Conversation on March 23, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
