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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 1072.002 2014-2016 15 M TC. Cohnvi . 1o7, Kapoho VACATIONLAND HAWAII COMMUNITY & C of H Civil Defense -account outline by Jan Anderson Kapoho Vacationland Hawaii community resident and community volunteer FOREWARNING ,.. ^-n x,45 - Since hurricane Iselle impact of Aug 7, 2014 signed up community m ber--,. get automated text messages from Civil Defense Agency about: Q .. - road closures, general information on potential weather/ natural hazards affecting Haweaii Island, information about geothermal plant unscheduled events - when we have had hurricane or storm warnings , CERT teams have come to our community and gone to houses along the storm suge prone to flooding....no other homes in area notified. Storm/Hurricane Madeline and Lester were in the same notification. - AREAS NEEDING TO BE ADDRESSED -area specific weather information -co-ordination in communication of government with the residents regarding notification of impending emergency and post-emergency -security- road blocks during pre-natural disaster emergency -a sufficient dispersement area set up to receive help in the way of food, shelter items if isolated, ice etc Gonm. ko. IDi2 , 2 lief. To:I. 5 � � Ref. Date OCT p.t 2' m Kapoho VACATIONLAND HAWAII COMMUNITY & Hawaii County Agencies Hurricane Iselle ( August 7, 2014 ) -account outline by Jan Anderson Kapoho Vacationland Hawaii community resident and community volunteer FOREWARNING - Confusing reports on the radio about direction/impact point of Hurricane days prior to impact - Sometimes news release said Cape Kumakahi was ground zero for impact, then it would change to Kau and back again - Either way no official or county agency came to give assistance to alerting our community on the potential impact of this storm. - There were no road blocks on Hwy 137 or at 4 corners (Hwy 132-137) - On Wednesday afternoon,August 6,2014, a man from civil Defense office called and asked if I was still a contact#to call for emergency notification or as a liaison. I said I was and then I asked specifically, " Is there something I should know about now?" He said not at this time, they will call if something comes up. - IMPACT and DAMAGE - no electricity for 2 weeks / no cell service for 1 week / no land line phone service for over 2 weeks /internet came back on before phone service - wind damage- a few trees came down on power and phone lines....community members cleared it away - more major damage from storm surge...flowed up to Kaheka and WaiOpae intersection....up Wai Opae on north side almost to Kahonua on WaiOpae - many inner tideponds filled with debris flowed in with storm surge rivers with peoples 'stuff under their houses or from their houses---paint cans, furniture, gas cans, propane tanks, wood, staircases ripped off of houses - 4 houses destroyed, 4 more heavily damaged, plus more damaged with severed staircase therefore unable to enter their homes - some people were trapped in their houses during the storm - Thursday afternoon,Aug 07, day of storm approach, I had to spend time to tell public visitors who were looking for real estate properties to leave and followed them out because they were not leaving RESPONSE-POST HURRICANE emergency responders, national guard, clean-up, volunteers -Friday morning-Aug 08, first light of day, I went to assess what happened from night impact from hurricane...trees down, storm surge damage...approx 50% of our coastal neighborhood area affected by debris in their yards, on the roads in the tidal ponds...debris consisited of organic materials, toxic materials, house parts from broken up houses -no show from county government in any way til Sunday-Aug 10th when a county helicopter flew over and said the mayor sent them to find out what we needed...we said ice, ice, ice we never saw anything from them till days later -On Sunday Aug 10, I'went to Pahoa via Leilani ..who had one lane cut open, got cell service, called Civil defense at 6:30 am,first talked to Charlene who wanted to put me off til 'later' then I talked to Daryl Oliverra who said my call was the first time anyone called to say we had a problem... and he got huffy with me because I was exasperated that we had no,help from them, we did not have phone connection from down there and he said he would send someone down to Vacationland to meet us at 10 am and no one showed up - we had mail service and Tribune herald service by Saturday Aug 09 - we had to provide our own security, no help from government - our help and assistance in the form of food, ice, security came from church groups, fisherman families who carne from Waimea with their big ice chests filled with ice for us, - Salvation Army, Nanawale Community Center helped us with dried food and ice - clean-up took a month - a week after the hurricane, the county ( Bobby Jean Leithead-Todd) arranged for a container to be dropped off to be filled up with debris by our subdivision and outside volunteers in our affected neighborhood - AREAS NEEDING TO BE ADDRESSED -area specific weather information ' -co-ordination in communication of government with the residents regarding notification of impending emergency and post-emergency -security- road blocks during pre- natural disaster emergency -a sufficient dispersement area set up to receive help in the way of food, shelter items if isolated, ice etc