‘Heart-wrenching’: Hurricane Lowell leaves Kauai canoe club with $80K in damage

LĪHUʻE (HawaiiNewsNow) – A Līhuʻe canoe club is picking through extensive damage left behind by Hurricane Lowell, including a damaged hale and at least 18 racing canoes that members estimate are worth about $80,000.

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Kaiola Canoe Club, based in Niumalu, spent hours preparing for the storm by securing its canoes and battening down its hale. But when members returned after Lowell passed, they found damage across nearly every part of the club.

“Driving down and seeing all the broken pieces all over the road. And it was heart wrenching, heartbreaking,” said Mitzi Yamamoto, secretary of the Kaiola Canoe Club.

Extensive destruction to the fleet

Yamamoto said part of the main hale’s roof was torn away, while another section of the roof line was ripped off. Three doors leading into the hallway were also damaged and left unsecured.

The storm also destroyed much of the club’s newer fleet of V1 racing canoes, which the club received last year through a County of Kauaʻi grant.

“All our racks broke and fell and got torn off,” Yamamoto said. “We walked across the street to pick up all the pieces in the neighbor’s yard. And that was, I think, the most heart-wrenching thing.”

The club has not completed a full inventory, but Yamamoto said at least 18 V1 canoes were lost.

Each V1 canoe currently costs about $4,500 to $5,500, she said, putting the club’s estimated loss at about $80,000 so far.

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Impact on offseason training

For the club’s more than 60 racing paddlers, the damage means the offseason will look very different.

Twelve-year-old member Kiana Carvalho returned to the club and saw the destruction firsthand.

“When I got there, there was just a huge section of the roof was just hanging down from the side and like a lot of things were exposed and the garage to the hale was like hanging and yeah, it was just really bad,” Carvalho said.

“There was just a lot of debris everywhere and like everything was damaged,” she said.

The club is now focused on cleanup and figuring out how to repair the hale and rebuild its canoe fleet so its paddlers can return to training.

Carvalho said she hopes the club can recover and replace some of the canoes.

“I’m hoping that we can repair the canoe club and hopefully get a couple more V1’s so then we can keep training throughout off season,” she said.

Kaiola Canoe Club is asking for community support to help repair its hale and replace damaged canoes. A GoFundMe page has been established to help the club reach its fundraising goal.

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