The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands took to the air this past Friday, sending drones over the island of Molokaʻi, and now its drone survey of the most flood-impacted areas of Maui County is complete.
Kalani Fronda, interim administrator of the Land Development Division, joined HPR to deliver an update on the damage and to share more about the in-house drone program that was created after the Maui wildfires.
Interview Highlights
On the purpose of the drone survey
FRONDA: We had a chance to take a look at the island of Molokaʻi, and then yesterday we visited the island of Maui and some targeted areas that got hit a little harder. One was upcountry, and the other was in Lealiʻi, in Lahaina. … One of the big things was, what are the current responses that are needed right now? And so, you know, as we've seen, the best way to do it is working in collaboration with the County of Maui and taking a look at what they have deployed already, the types of services and also the assessments that they were doing, so we're not overlapping but more working in concert with one another. So we particularly looked at drainage systems, culverts, stream beds, waterways, and taking a look at the drainage capacity, flow paths.
On working with Maui County for future disaster prep
FRONDA: So we can not only look at the very immediate response, but as you had mentioned as well, how do we plan for resiliency strategy, and be able to be more proactive in the event of any type of natural hazard and being prepared for it. Now we're dealing with floods. In a little while, we're going to be dealing with wildfire. We're going to run into hurricane season. So the great thing is, we're able to have representatives that are on-island from the department at the table with the County of Maui. So not only are they planning ahead, but when there are situations, we already have resources in place. One of the things that the department is looking at is working together with our associations and having these resource hubs set up, working with MEMA to be able to equip it. So in the event of any of these things, we're not trying to resource it or source it. We actually have it in place, and so they're able to just react.
On next steps for DHHL and Maui residents
FRONDA: We have some programs in place, but it helps us sharpen to be able to be more responsive, our communication a lot more clearer, and it becomes a learning process for not only internally, but how do we engage other agencies that are doing the same thing, and how do we work together to be able to help the overall community.
More updates and news from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands can be found on their website here.
This story aired on The Conversation on April 1, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
