Maui family displaced after Hurricane Lala destroys multi-generational home

News admin August 22, 2026 0 Comments

Maui family displaced after Hurricane Lala destroys multi-generational home

HAIKU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Eleven-month-old Dusty Lou will never know what it is like to grow up in her great-grandfather’s home on Awalau Road in Haiku.

The family of five was sheltering inside when Hurricane Lala passed south of the state Saturday night.

“Seen the pine trees like start laying down. Then all of a sudden, the thing came through, and the whole garage kind of lifted up like four or five inches. So then, me and my father look at each other and was like, I think it’s time we get out of here,” Joey Maldonado said.

Roof torn off as family fled

Maldonado ran to grab his wife and children as the fierce winds ripped part of the roof right off the house, and the ceiling collapsed.

“I was literally holding up the ceiling, and my wife was grabbing things, grabbing the kids, getting out of the house, when the ceiling went falling, Maldonado said. ”All this kitchen ceiling started falling in.”

As the family ran outside during the storm, the bedroom windows blew out and glass shattered into Dusty Lou’s play pen, where she had been moments earlier.

Thankfully no one was injured.

“You just feel so vulnerable,” Maldonado said. You don’t even know, like … what I going to do? Where you going? The roads, they hammered. We cannot leave.”

Rain follows, mold spreads

But then came the rain and drenching everything inside.

Now, black mold is spreading.

“Me, I sleep in my truck, minor. But it’s like when you get one family and you’re responsible for them, it’s a scary feeling because your home is your place of like security,” Maldonado said.

Community response

Those closest to them say even though they would never ask for help themselves, they need it.

So loved ones created a gofundme page to help them rebuild.

The Maldonados are overwhelmed by the outpouring of aloha.

“Just baffles me. I didn’t even know people like me that much,” Maldonado said, laughing.

They are not asking for much. Just a roof over their heads, a safe haven for Dusty Lou, and a place 10-year-old Makoa can keep practicing his roping skills as Maui’s next generation of paniolo.