{"id":665735,"date":"2026-03-19T01:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T01:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/665735\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T01:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T01:34:13","slug":"getting-ready-hawaii-county-crews-residents-prep-for-second-kona-low-storm-expected-thursday-big-island-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/665735\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting ready: Hawai\u2018i County crews, residents prep for second Kona low storm expected Thursday : Big Island Now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>After days of rain, Hawai\u2018i County crews are taking advantage of the first bit of sunshine to prepare for a second Kona low storm expected to arrive Thursday on the Big Island.<\/p>\n<p>On March 14, <a href=\"https:\/\/bigislandnow.com\/2026\/03\/16\/kona-low-storm-on-big-island-leaves-behind-property-damage-cleanup-and-dead-goats\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/bigislandnow.com\/2026\/03\/16\/kona-low-storm-on-big-island-leaves-behind-property-damage-cleanup-and-dead-goats\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">several inches of rain and damaging winds<\/a> upended pavement, toppled trees, flooded homes and left boulders and debris on major roadways in the Kona and Ka\u2018\u016b Districts. <\/p>\n<p>Wednesday morning, Hawai\u2018i County Mayor Kimo Alameda said the county workers are \u201cdoubling down\u201d to remove as much debris as possible to clear culverts and roadways.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.bigislandnow.com\/file\/bigislandnow\/2026\/03\/Kau-sky-post-kona-low-scaled.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"719\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Kau-sky-post-kona-low-1024x719.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-428164\"\/><\/a>Ka\u2018\u016b skies on March 18, 2026, following Kona low storm. (Photo courtesy: Christine Inserra)<\/p>\n<p>Matt Foster, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Honolulu, said Wednesday morning the next Kona low will start developing Thursday afternoon with potential flooding by Thursday night.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will be another four days of active weather, depending on where those bands (of moisture) set up,\u201d Foster said.<\/p>\n<p><b>ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD<\/b><b>ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Currently, there are no road closures and transfer stations have expanded hours to ensure residents can get rid of trash ahead of the incoming storm. <\/p>\n<p>Hawai\u2018i County will be distributing ice, water and food at the Billy Kenoi Sports Complex in P\u0101hoa from 1 to 3 p.m. to residents impacted by last weekend\u2019s storm.<\/p>\n<p>County Parks and Recreation reports all beach parks are open today except for Spencer Beach Park, which will remain closed.<\/p>\n<p>Christine Inserra, a Ka\u2018\u016b resident, said she is cleaning mold off the walls, clearing palm fronds from the wind and other debris from her yard ahead of the second Kona low. The winds and rain on March 14 flooded Route 11 in front of her home and beneath her post-and-pier home.<\/p>\n<p><b>ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Talmadge Magno, administrator with the Hawai\u2018i County Civil Defense Agency, said the county is preparing for a storm with similar rainn to the last one to impact Puna, Ka\u2018\u016b and Kona districts. But this upcoming system isn\u2019t expected to have the same strong winds.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.bigislandnow.com\/file\/bigislandnow\/2026\/03\/clearing-debris-featured-.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/clearing-debris-featured--1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-428163\"\/><\/a>Road repairs in Ka\u2018\u016b District. (Photo courtesy: Hawai\u2018i County)<\/p>\n<p>However, Magno said with the ground already saturated from the previous Kona low, flooding could happen faster.<\/p>\n<p>Power restoration is ongoing after thousands were left in the dark following the March 14 Kona low. Overnight and early this morning, Hawaiian Electric restored power to more than 1,500 customers across Maui County, Hawai\u02bbi Island and O\u02bbahu.<\/p>\n<p>Power was restored to about 340 customers overnight on Hawai\u2018i Island. But Hawaiian Electric said about 2,400 customers remain without power in various areas around the island from Kapoho, Royal Hawaiian Estates, Mountain View, Hawaiian Paradise Park, Orchid Isle Estates, Wright Road, and various pocket outages in North and South Kona.<\/p>\n<p><b>ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Damage assessments and tree clearing continue. In the hardest hit areas, repairs have been slowed by fallen trees and debris blocking roads. Tree trimming crews have been working to clear trees in the Puna area since Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Residents and business owners are encouraged to report storm damage to the county <a href=\"https:\/\/hawaii-county-civil-defense-agency-hawaiicountygis.hub.arcgis.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After days of rain, Hawai\u2018i County crews are taking advantage of the first bit of sunshine to prepare&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":665736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[23],"tags":[746,21647,281634,281635,56319,176780,279473,279964,281636,281637,34703,6231,209399,159,67,132,68,313],"class_list":["post-665735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-hawaii-county","tag-hawaii-county-civil-defense-agency","tag-hawaii-county-storm","tag-hiwx","tag-kimo-alameda","tag-kona-low","tag-kona-low-storm","tag-kona-low-system","tag-matt-foster","tag-meteorologist","tag-national-weather-service","tag-national-weather-service-in-honolulu","tag-science","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-weather"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116253272787938383","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}