Repeat Disasters Prompt Kauai To Build Rural Emergency Response Center … A focal point for hurricanes, tsunamis, landslides and floods, Kauai’s remote north shore will soon have a new facility to help government agencies and community groups coordinate disaster response.
A dozen landslides shut down the lone road to the farthest reaches of Kauai’s north shore in April 2018, severing the isolated communities of Wainiha and Haena from the rest of the island for months.
A record-setting rainstorm triggered the landslides, causing $180 million in damage, wrecking more than 500 homes and making it difficult, if not impossible, for thousands of people to shop for food, refill prescription medicine, attend school or get to work.
In March 2021, disaster struck again. Heavy rain set off a major landslide on the Hanalei Hill, cutting off an even larger populace from doctors, pharmacies, emergency responders, jobs, schools and other essential services.
