Green formally requests presidential emergency declaration following Lala

Gov. Josh Green today formally requested the White House for a presidential emergency declaration for Hawaii following Hurricane Lala.

The request, which covers the counties of Hawaii, Maui and Honolulu, asks for immediate federal assistance to protect public health and safety, maintain essential services and support communities recovering from Lala as Tropical Storm Moke approaches, according to the governor’s office.

“Hurricane Lala caused severe damage across our state and placed an extraordinary strain on communities already recovering from previous disasters,” Green said in a news release. “I have been in direct contact with the White House and Cabinet officials, including Homeland Security Secretary (Markwayne) Mullin, to advocate for the urgent assistance Hawaii needs. We are asking for specialized federal resources to protect our communities, care for our people and keep essential services operating while another storm approaches.”

Lala, which slowly moved past South Point on Aug. 15 as a Category 1 hurricane, dumped over 30 inches of rain to some Hawaii island areas, before passing south of the other islands as a powerful tropical storm. Lala caused destructive floods, landslides, and damages hundreds of homes and several bridges, especially on the Big Island where Kau district was the hit hardest.

Severe slope failure at Naalehu Cemetery also disinterred human remains, creating an urgent cultural, public health and operational challenge that requires specialized mortuary resources, according to the governor’s office.

Lala’s powerful winds and heavy rains also knocked out power for many Hawaiian Electric Co. customers from the Big Island to Oahu.

At one point during the storm, about 200,000 HECO customers were without power. As of today, most service has been restored but over 11,000 customers on the Big Island still had no power.

For some of those customers, power may not be restored until Sept. 8, the governor’s office said.

Green’s request to the White House asks for federal assistance that includes:

>> Deployment of Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team personnel and other specialists to assist with the recovery, identification, documentation and re-interment of human remains.

>> Large-capacity emergency generators and federal technical and logistical support for critical facilities and essential services.

>> Federal experts and equipment to establish microgrids or comparable interim power systems until permanent electrical service is restored.

The governor’s office noted that Hawaii is also continuing recovery work after the March Kona Low storms and May’s magnitude-6.0 earthquake in Kona, placing additional demands on state and county personnel, equipment and financial resources.