Waikiki outages persist as HECO works to strengthen grid

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Days after Hurricane Lala battered the islands, some Waikiki residents are still waiting for electricity to be restored.

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At Canterbury Place, residents are hauling buckets of water to get by as the building remains dark and without water service.

Kery Elliott, who moved into the building just two days before the storm, said the blackout is especially concerning because her husband relies on a CPAP machine.

“My husband has a CPAP machine and we have no power. So that worries us. So I monitor him at night,” Elliott said.

Because the building’s pumps rely on electricity, the power outage has also cut off all running water.

“I need this water to flush our toilet, to wash dishes, take showers. We have no facilities here that warrant that right now,” Elliott said.

Zander Ross, another Canterbury Place resident, said navigating the pitch-black stairwells has also become a major challenge.

“It’s really difficult, because we have a 30 pound dog, and we live 39 stories up. So we have to go up and down with the dog in dark stairs,” Ross said.

The prolonged outages are also raising broader questions about the resiliency of Hawaii’s electrical grid.

Read more Some East Maui residents are trapped after Lala washes away bridge

State Rep. Nicole Lowen, chair of the House Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection, said the storm exposed clear vulnerabilities in the state’s infrastructure.

“This storm taught us a lesson about the weakness of our electrical infrastructure,” Lowen said. “It was not even a category one hurricane in most areas that it hit. And we still had outages for days.”

Lowen pointed to several systemic issues Hawaii faces, including aging infrastructure, vulnerable wooden poles that need to be replaced, and unmanaged vegetation encroaching on power lines.

Hawaiian Electric officials said they have been working for several years to make the grid more resilient.

Darren Pai, spokesperson for Hawaiian Electric, said that work includes upgrading poles and power lines, while also improving the utility’s ability to restore service after severe weather.

Pai acknowledged that while it is not possible to prevent all damage from natural disasters, strengthening the grid helps minimize the duration of future blackouts.

Hawaiian Electric said it understands the frustration of customers who have been without power for days as crews continue working to restore service.

Read more Man found dead in Naalehu following Hurricane Lala