3/13 & 14: Hawaii shuts down as powerful storm pummels islands

[HiloJulie]

HJ - But then, maybe I have a little bit of the politician in me...

Well then maybe you can give the best politician answer to how putting money into the business of a sieg-heiling, white-supremacist-supporting, apartheid-South-Africa-born billionaire, is better for Hawai'i than supporting a local telcom that provides local jobs and community investments? (and has some of the best install folks I've ever worked with - gave enough details on the conduit setup that we could do it ourselves to their required specs, and even did a hands on install so I expanded my CAT cable pulling experience with some insight on installing fiber - very chill professionals)

I'd be more than happy!

First, Hawaiian Telcom no longer has a majority of direct install/repair employees. They are "sub contracted" 1099 vendors who do the work. At least here in the Puna area. The 1099 vendors get a "flat fee" for every install regardless of actual time spent installing. Same with repairs.

Secondly, the repair service telephone desk is now mostly answered by a dude named "Mark" who has a striking Indian accent. There is no ability to communicate an issue, it is starting at Page 1 of the Power Point Slide Deck and reading it until the last page before a crew is dispatched. Even when reporting the main wires coming down the driveway were ripped apart by a falling tree, we have to go reboot everything then on to Page 2, 3, 4, 5... and third, as we have two separate houses on our properties, we are required to have two separate Hawaiian Telcom circuits. When the tree fell on BOTH lines, a repair call required two separate calls and was answered by sending Crew 1 out to repair circuit wire number 1 one day and repair crew number 2 out to repair circuit wire number 2 two days later. BOTH wires run next to each other and terminate on the same pole before being run to each separate house.

Additionally, Starlink has employees based in Hawaii and is constantly advertising for more.

And, let's remember, Hawaiian Telcom is owned by an Ohio based venture capital firm.

Now, I am in no way defending Elon Musk. As I originally said, my feelings about him are unfit to post on PunaWeb. But I figure since its good enough for the legendary PunaWeb posters "terracore," "Obie" and "Knieft" why not give it a try?

[leilanidude]

There are job listings, yes. However, they are for Honolulu, and work as Starlink Installation Pros. They perform the physical setup of satellite terminals for commercial and government projects. No Starlink employee is coming to your fictitious house in Hawaiian Acres.

[Durian Fiend]

On LinkedIn, Hawaiian Telcom claims to have 1200 employees statewide.

Julie, what leads you to believe they use sub contractors for some jobs?

[HiloJulie]

On LinkedIn, Hawaiian Telcom claims to have 1200 employees statewide. 

Julie, what leads you to believe they use sub contractors for some jobs?

Not what I believe, what I experienced first hand.

Back when we first got Hawaiian Telcom Fiber in late 2018 at my fictitious house in the Acres, everything was done by direct Hawaiian Telcom employees as well as when about a year later when one of the "AdTran's" went out, a Hawaiian Telcom employee came and installed a new one.

Then, just about a year ago, when a certain 4 legged monster who lives with us decided to have the two fiber optic cables that come down the pole before splitting to each house for lunch, the repair was handled at that time by, a company, whose name I don't remember, but the logo on the trucks that the repair guys came with said under the company name "Authorized Hawaiian Telcom Subcontractor."

And then several months ago when the tree fell on the lines running from the road and up the driveway, each crew that responded were also "Authorized Hawaiian Telcom Subcontractors."

On all three occasions the workers told me that they are independent contractors working for Hawaiian Telcom. 

Now, I admit, it could be that maybe it is because Hawaiian Telcom is too busy?

[ironyak]

Probably worth taking the internet provider debate to another thread as lots could be said that has nothing to do with the March storm?

More on that topic though, word is that Malama's is closed again as there isn't enough power to maintain the refrigerators? Anyone know if the gas station there in Puna Kai is working? Apparently some parts of Pahoa also don't have water pressure, maybe as the pumping stations are without power?

Also, anyone have an update on Orchidland Minit-stop / True Value? Going to have to venture out for water and gas and trying to figure how far afield that trip might take me. Thanks!

[kalianna]

Nothing on Orchidland but when I left this AM, there were several trucks working on the pole at 30th and Paradise and when I cam home crews were gone so hopefully power has been restored there.

[Durian Fiend]

More breezy south winds today. Hilo is showing 17 mph with gusts to 28 mph. I don't remember this as part of the forecast. Instead, "calm" winds.

The rainfall totals Kona side in several spots exceeded Puna during the storm. A friend below typically bone dry HOVE reported 24 inches in 3 days! Lots of power outages there too.

[Durian Fiend]

Posted on FB today:

“ This is the 9am HELCO update for Hawaiʻi Island:

Last night, power was restored to about 2,900 customers in Volcano Village, Kalapana, Na‘alehu, and Kaloko Mauka. About 10,800 customers (12% of customers on the island) currently are without power, mostly in Puna and North Kona. Today, crews will be working in Kea‘au, Kurtistown, Mountain View, Volcano, South Point, and North and South Kona. Damage assessment teams will be working in lower Puna. Yesterday, 30 damaged or broken poles were identified and three transmission lines were repaired.”

[ironyak]

CivilBeat had a good summary of the storm's impacts across the islands. Maybe just some propaganda for a billionaire philanthropist's nefarious agenda, but at least makes the E for effort to assume the appearance of informative, local journalism.

https://www.civilbeat.org/2026/03/lost-h...-of-storm/

[ironyak]

Looking kinda post-Iselle-like out there for some parts of Puna. Hopefully people will take some lessons from this experience and put the effort into reaching the level of preparedness needed in Hawai'i, both as individuals and as hyper-local neighborhood communities.

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/202...low-storm/
"Roughly 8,000 Hawaiian Electric Company customers across Hawaii Island were still without electricity Monday afternoon as utility crews raced to clear fallen trees and repair power lines damaged by the Kona low storm over the weekend.

HECO announced that those affected should “plan for prolonged outages” which in some cases could drag on for “possibly days.”
...
On Sunday, as the storm began to dissipate, Nanawale resident Kendra Tidwell couldn’t leave her house because there were fallen trees and downed power poles blocking the road in both directions.
...
“We’re piecing it together,” she said. “My mom has propane, so we cook over there, (one neighbor) has county water, so we can take a shower over there, everybody kind of finds what they can offer and shares stuff.”

An inspector from the electric company was driving through the subdivision over the weekend, and Tidwell’s mother — who lives next door — asked them how long it could take before power is restored. According to the official, five power poles needed to be replaced on their street alone, meaning they could be in the dark for several weeks. Thankfully, she has experience surviving long stretches without electricity from living through past storms.
...
“We recognize that there are going to be pockets of prolonged outage,” Weintraub said. “We’ve got scarce resources, and we want to focus them on where the critical infrastructure is, and there are going to be some people in isolated areas who are going to kind of be at the end of the line.”" (more at link)