As county residents were preparing for the possibility of more rain and flooding over the weekend, the Maui County Council held an emergency meeting on Friday morning and unanimously approved a request from Mayor Richard Bissen for $12 million to address some of the damage caused by last week’s Kona low storm. 

“This was an emergency measure, and we just wish everyone godspeed with dealing with all the tragedies and the repairs and everything from the first storm,” Council Chair Alice Lee said.

While the meeting was wrapping up, the Maui Emergency Management Agency announced evacuation advisories for the Wahikuli and Leialiʻi areas in Lahaina as nearby retention basins neared capacity. Evacuation advisories had already been issued for high-risk neighborhoods in South Maui and for portions of ʻĪao, East Molokaʻi, Lahaina and East Maui.

The initial storm caused widespread devastation, resulting in large sinkholes, collapsed homes and power outages across Maui.

The full extent of the first storm’s damage has not yet been determined, but based on air and ground assessments, local officials believed at least $16 million would be needed to cover the cost of emergency repairs and related operational needs, Josiah Nishita, county managing director, told council members. 

“A lot of the areas are difficult to get to due to fallen trees, power lines and other mud and sediment, so a full accounting of damage assessments has yet to be done,” he said. “There are still residents out there from the last storm, still impacted by this and still in a response phase and trying to recover from the initial damages, and unfortunately, we have another weather system moving into our county that will further exasperate and impact already saturated areas.”

Nishita said officials came up with the $16 million estimate based on the following: $11 million for the Department of Public Works, $3 million for the Maui Police Department, $500,000 for the Maui Fire Department, “a few million” for Department of Emergency Management and smaller amounts for other departments.

The administration had originally asked for $15 million, but the request was amended because the Maui County Charter requires that emergency appropriations not exceed 1% of the fiscal year’s operating appropriations.

“We don’t believe we have enough funding to keep normal county operations going through the end of the fiscal year, as well as doing all the emergency repairs and processes needed,” he said. “Hence the request.”

The initial $12 million could be used to address immediate threats to public health and safety, Nishita said, and the administration was anticipating that it would soon be making another request for emergency funding to cover the rest of the damage, as well as longer-term repairs that will be needed for certain roads and drainage canals.

Nishita urged residents to submit online damage reports to assist the county in obtaining federal funding for recovery efforts. 

Officials expect a significant portion of the total amount allocated from the county’s emergency fund for post-storm recovery will eventually be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Nishita said, but the reimbursement process would likely be lengthy and somewhat meticulous. He said the county is hoping that a federal disaster declaration will be made.