As storms continue to pick up across the islands, it seems the heavy rains have made their way across Kauaʻi and have continued moving east.
HPR contacted Kauaʻi Mayor Derek Kawakami, who believes that the Garden Isle has gotten through the worst of the storm currently traveling over Hawaiʻi.
Officials are still urging the public to remain on alert as the storm progresses.
Interview Highlights
On the storm Thursday night
MAYOR DEREK KAWAKAMI: We got through what appears to be the worst of it, but we're no way out of the woods yet. Because as we all know, there's aftereffects from storms, especially when the winds are still blowing southerly, the ground is saturated. So we're just telling people to just proceed with caution. And especially with schools happening, everybody going to work, one of the biggest things we worry about is traffic safety. So we remind people to drive with aloha.
On property and road damage
KAWAKAMI: As far as property damage assessments, reports are still going to come in, but none of the immediate calls to the EOC (Emergency Operations Center) with property damage happened. We checked the dispatch logs. Nothing significant overnight.
…There's still some smaller localized roads that may still be closed. We're still getting reports in there. They're still flooded, from what I understand. You know, our crews will be out there all day long, assessing whether or not roads are safe.
…We had a number of falling tree branches debris on the roads. So our roads crew was just hammering away yesterday, just clearing roads into the night. And so those folks have brave hearts, too.
On witnessing the community brave the storm
KAWAKAMI: It's really a testament to the strength of Mother Nature, but also the strength of Hawai’i people. I think when you think about it, to live in Hawaiʻi, you got to be a little bit rugged. You have to be a little bit self sustaining, just for the geographical isolation that we're faced with and in small communities, small towns, when we see them get hit with disasters like, my gosh, in North Shore Oʻahu, the speed at which the community responded is refreshing, and we see it all the time. And that gives leaders, mayors, governors, a great sense of confidence that we have a community that knows how to pull together when, when we need to the most.
Damage assessments in Kauaʻi are still incoming, but there were no major reports overnight aside from nuisance flooding, down trees and fallen branches from wind gusts. Keep track of HPR’s storm coverage and latest updates here.
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This story aired on The Conversation on April 10, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
