The back-to-back Kona lows that slammed Oʻahu in March marked our worst flooding event in 20 years. While no one was spared the rains, my constituents on the North Shore bore the brunt of a historic disaster. 

In particular, the second Kona low on March 20 caught nearly everyone flat footed, with families waking up in the middle of the night to flash flood waters inundating their homes. Countless foundations, farms, and memories were buried in the mud.

A truly destructive cyclone has yet to hit Oʻahu, but this year’s Super El Niño hurricane season may deliver it. Such a storm threatens countless lives and could disable Honolulu Harbor, which would temporarily cut off the whole state from supplies. 

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Every individual and every community should ask themselves whether they feel prepared to face this scenario.

From this year’s terrifying experience on the North Shore came several hard-earned lessons I hope the rest of Hawaiʻi takes to heart before the next disaster strikes. We have to urgently address three vulnerabilities: physical mitigation, emergency response and community preparedness.

Neglected Flood Infrastructure

Floods are shaped by infrastructure and erosion — by whether the streams, ditches and drains that move water across a landscape have been cleared or choked with debris.

The North Shore suffered because since the sugarcane fields closed, many private landholders were not made aware or held accountable for their responsibility over that infrastructure. The city itself fell behind on maintenance. Years of neglect and chronic flooding finally caught up with us.

Every neighborhood on Oʻahu has waterways that redirect the flood, but most of us cannot say who, if anyone, maintains them.

To address this, we need a new islandwide plan for waterway maintenance. Government and landholders should coordinate on mapping jurisdiction, cleaning schedules and acquiring funding and permitting assistance when necessary. 

While I am grateful that the city’s fiscal year 2027 operating budget includes several of my provisions — including a report to evaluate the city’s stream maintenance plan and several millions of dollars for flood control projects — we also need dedicated positions to plan and coordinate this work. This is why I tried to add staff to the city’s Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency to work with stakeholders and coordinate across government jurisdictions to manage our waterways. 

Fractured Emergency Response

The city’s preparation for the third Kona low showed that early activation of emergency systems and evacuations are possible. During the second storm, the impacts of the delayed orders were felt. The stream gauges that measure water levels – if they were working at all – were not used early enough to inform the response. 

Our emergency SMS system is limited in how much information is transmitted, while HNL Alert is dependent on sign-ups. These issues are exacerbated by power and signal outages during storms. Residents also raised concerns that the messages were lacking or confusing. 

Shelters like Waialua High School were themselves at flood risk, so with limited alerts, people did not know where to evacuate. In the event of a hurricane or tsunami, we need more resilient shelters and widespread knowledge of where folks should plan to go. 

To that end, I introduced a resolution outlining how Honolulu should effectively administer the $18 million we passed in this year’s budget for physical resilience hubs. The hubs would be new or retrofitted community-led facilities that provide shelter, essential supplies, and solar electricity during the 72 hours the government may be unable to reach affected disaster zones. 

At the council, we also eagerly await the city’s after action report assessing the response. We must be willing to confront shortcomings by centering the community’s input and using the findings to improve our preparedness policies.

Undermined Community Preparation

A 2025 University of Hawaiʻi-led study found that only 12% of households across the pae ʻāina meet recommended levels of food, water, and essential medicine stockpiles. We must urgently raise these levels. 

During the Kona lows, however, I watched a community step up where systems lapsed. Our neighbors, nonprofits, churches and resilience networks immediately jumped into action. They spread lifesaving information, shared supplies, checked on kūpuna, and continue to support one another through recovery. 

In District 2, our resilience hub networks lead the way in disaster response and preparation. They served as invaluable resources during the storms and their work continues today, building resilience within communities and generating new local leaders through programs like Community Emergency Response Team and Hawaiʻi Hazards Awareness and Resilience Program training. 

I urge every community across Oʻahu to undertake this kind of planning — bringing together neighbors, community organizations, resilience hubs and all levels of government to assess vulnerabilities and build a shared plan before the next disaster arrives.

Progress has also been frustratingly undermined. By making severe cuts to the Office of Economic Revitalization — which has been a lifeline to the small businesses, farmers, and families recovering from the Kona lows — the council is setting our resilience back even further. 

Citizens cannot bear this burden on their own. The government’s role is to provide the infrastructure that supports community resilience. Our leaders must listen to what communities actually need and deliver resources where they belong.

There are several steps you can take now that will make the difference when it counts:

• Sign up for HNL Alerts.
• Know your nearby shelters and evacuation routes for different hazards.
• Make a plan for your family and kūpuna neighbors. Assemble a go bag and a 14-day kit of emergency food and supplies.
• If you have the resources, invest in hardening and retrofitting your home. 

And importantly, get involved in your community resilience efforts — preparedness is a collective responsibility.