The state Department of Transportation’s Highways Division is projecting $23.04 million in damage statewide, with roughly $7 million on Maui—second only to Oahu, which has a larger, more complex highway system. The remaining estimates include about $2 million on Hawaii island and $35,000 on Kauai, covering contractor response, debris clearing, rock removal, guardrail and sign repairs, bridge inspections, traffic signal fixes and road repairs.
Maui County officials caution that the figures only begin to reflect the storm’s toll in Maui County, where widespread flooding and infrastructure damage across South Maui, Lahaina, Molokai, East Maui and Upcountry have left communities facing a recovery expected to last weeks or longer, with more rain threatening to compound already dangerous conditions.
“This is a countywide event,” Maui Emergency Management Agency Administrator Amos Lonokailua-Hewett told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Tuesday. “There’s damage—significant damage—throughout the county, not in just one major area.”
From South Maui to Lahaina, and across Molokai, East Maui and Upcountry, crews are still working to assess the full extent of destruction. Lonokailua-Hewett said damage assessment teams are in the field alongside aerial reconnaissance units, including drone teams and support from the Civil Air Patrol, to map impacts and prioritize response.
Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami told the Star-Advertiser that seven county officials have been deployed to Maui to assist with recovery efforts. Preliminary reports indicate South Maui has been hit especially hard, with the highest volume of damage reports. Floodwaters left behind thick mud, silt and debris that continue to block access in some areas.
“There’s access points to allow people to get out, but there’s going to be a lot of debris removal, mud and silt that’s going to take a few weeks,” he said.
Kihei hit hard Along South Kihei Road, families are still cleaning up after floodwaters surged into homes Friday night.
“It was crazy,” Latai Tongi, 21, said. “The rain was coming, we knew there was a storm, but then all of a sudden it was slowly coming into our house. That’s not normal for us.”
Tongi said water began pushing up from the ground and into her father’s bedroom, eventually flooding the space.
“It just kept rushing … into my father’s room, and everything flooded,” she said. “It wasn’t just our house—it was the houses around us, their houses were flooding, too. Everyone was helping each other.”
As water levels rose, family members and neighbors moved between homes, trying to bail out buckets of water wherever it was worst.
“It was never ending,” Tongi said. “Up until midnight, it just didn’t stop.”
Her sister, Naua Tongi, 18, said floodwaters rose higher than anything the family had experienced before.
“We’ve had floods before, but it’s never been past our feet,” said Naua Tongi, who stands about 5 feet, 7 inches. “This time it was up to, like, mid-chin.”
The experience was frightening, Latai Tongi added, especially as the storm intensified.
“We’ve seen bad storms, but this time was different,” Tongi said. “The wind was hard, the rain wasn’t stopping. … I was thinking, ‘What are we going to do?’”
Naua Tongi noted that the damage was concentrated in their parents’ bedroom, where personal belongings were at risk.
“It was scary,” she said. “Everything my parents (worked for), all their stuff was going to be washed out.”
Officials estimate debris removal alone could take two to three weeks, followed by a longer period of infrastructure repair. Full restoration timelines remain uncertain, as crews race to restore essential services like power and communications.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Hawaiian Electric crews were working to return power to about 1, 000 customers still without electricity. About 240 of those affected customers are in East Maui, where repairing roughly 20 damaged utility poles and multiple spans of downed lines could take several more days.
“We want to be able to restore 100%—power, telephone or cell coverage—and we’re working really hard with our partners to ensure that happens as fast as we can,” Lonokailua-Hewett said.
The threat of additional rainfall later this week is complicating recovery and could worsen already dangerous conditions. Saturated ground across Maui has heightened the risk of flooding, landslides and further infrastructure damage.
Although the worst of the storm has passed, forecasters with the National Weather Service say conditions will remain unsettled. The system expected to arrive Thursday is not forecast to be as severe as the weekend’s Kona low; however, a wet pattern is expected to persist across the islands this week, with bands of showers—some heavy at times—moving through the state. Winds are forecast to be lighter and variable through midweek before shifting to a more southerly flow later in the week.
“Saturated ground is a big concern,” Lonokailua-Hewett said. “The weather coming in will exacerbate what our situation is currently.”
County officials, according to Maui Mayor Richard Bissen’s office, have identified Lahaina, South Maui and Molokai as among the hardest-hit areas. Key roadways, including parts of South Kihei Road, remain partially closed, though crews are working to create limited access for residents.
Cleanup is expected to take several weeks, with road repairs and full restoration potentially stretching into months. Officials cautioned that timelines could shift depending on the extent of underlying infrastructure damage, which remains unclear until debris is fully cleared.
The storm also displaced residents, though many have since found temporary shelter with family or through community networks. At the height of the emergency response, more than 350 people sought refuge in shelters across Maui, with assistance from partners including the American Red Cross.
The county is moving displaced residents into temporary housing, but ongoing housing shortages pose challenges for longer-term recovery.
Ongoing Oahu risks Even islands that saw comparatively less-severe impacts are dealing with widespread, if less catastrophic, damage.
On Oahu, Honolulu Department of Emergency Management spokesperson Molly Pierce said crews spent all of Tuesday conducting both in-person and virtual damage assessments across the island, including neighborhood “windshield surveys,” in which teams assess damage by looking out of vehicles to quickly identify flooding impacts, downed trees and minor rockfalls.
“Nobody got spared,” Pierce said. “Everywhere really took hits on this one.”
Teams were deployed to the North Shore and Windward Oahu, where flooding pushed water onto properties and into garages and carports. However, Pierce said fewer homes than initially feared appeared to have sustained flooding inside living spaces.
“We had a lot of flood damage on property … but we didn’t have a huge volume of homes reported to us that had water damage inside the living spaces,” she said.
With major roadways largely cleared, Pierce said the focus is beginning to shift toward secondary impacts such as debris removal, downed trees and potholes caused by saturated ground.
“I’ve been driving around all day, and I can attest that I’ve seen a lot of pothole patching that has been done,” she said. “They’re working on it as fast as they can.”
Like Maui, Oahu faces ongoing risks as another storm approaches. Pierce warned that saturated soil increases the likelihood of falling trees, rockfalls and shifting ground, even in a weaker storm system, and urged residents to use caution—including avoiding potentially contaminated brown water after storms.
Back on Maui, officials are racing to balance recovery with preparation as another round of rain looms. Crews are clearing drainage systems, lowering the water level in retention basins and pre-positioning equipment, even as resources remain stretched.
“Resources are stretched thin … and everybody’s working really diligently and really hard,” Lonokailua-Hewett said. “The (incoming) storm will inevitably delay us as well.”
Despite the challenges, he emphasized the importance of community resilience as Maui moves forward.
“We live on an island. We know that we get storms,” he said. “We need to continue to prepare our families, prepare our homes and support one another. We’re in this together.”
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