John Rita, Sr. recently shared his opinion of what happened with the military response to Hurricane ‘Iniki on Kauai (TGI April 16). I am grateful for the opportunity to share my perspective.
Hurricane ‘Iniki hit Kauai head on, with the eye of the hurricane passing right over the island. Kauai was hit twice, first by the front winds and then by the back winds. The ‘Iniki winds blew in excess of 150 miles per hour. Over 2,000 homes were totally destroyed or rendered uninhabitable, requiring temporary shelter for 2,000-plus families. Five thousand utility poles were downed, blocking roads and cutting off communications. Fields were flattened, orchards uprooted and trees were totally denuded of leaves. The devastation was islandwide — a $2 billion storm.
When the engineers flew up to Mt. Kahili to repair the main antenna for the emergency communications system, all they found was a patch of dirt where the antenna had once been. In the first 24 to 72 hours, public and private responder communication was non-existent, except for limited pockets of phone service, CB radios and ham operators. Cell phones as we know them today did not exist.
As the Emergency Operating Center (EOC) was being opened the night before ‘Iniki hit, Governor Waihee and I spoke by phone. I asked the governor to activate the National Guard right away. I knew we needed the military.
The first shipments of supplies such as food, water, tarps and equipment initially came on a large transport ship to Nawiliwili Harbor. After entering the harbor the ship was seen turning around and leaving. That may have been the beginning of the rumors that “the mayor was sending the military away.”
According to Dane Oda, who was harbormaster at that time, the ship left the harbor without unloading because the harbor was too damaged to have the supplies unloaded at Nawiliwili. The ship was sent to PMRF where the supplies were safely offloaded.
When the supplies were unloaded at PMRF, they were trucked to the Hanapepe Armory where they were broken down and sent out to each community. The allocation of supplies was determined by the military based on census population figures. The people of Kekaha did in fact see the trucks go past Kekaha without stopping in that town, but supplies were in fact distributed back toKekaha. Given the nature of the disaster, supplies may not have seemed to come with the speed and quantity expected, but the process of distribution was fair.
In the EOC and around the island, we were racing to restore water and power, ensure there was food and sanitation for 9,000 people in 16 shelters, assist 12,000 visitors in returning home, provide tarps to protect property, provide temporary housing, open up disaster recovery centers (DACs), do damage survey reports to help residents, businesses and nonprofits qualify for assistance and attend to a thousand other pressing matters — all of this with little communication capacity or time to spare.
Military help was never rejected. All military personnel were part of the State Task Force of combined military forces under General Akers, the three-star Army general who served as the military counterpart to my position as Mayor.
When General Akers arrived on Kauai, he came to my office, introduced himself, and he and all the military support that came with him, including PMRF, immediately became part of the coordinated Hurricane response.
General Akers and I worked together for months with the EOC team (which included representatives of federal, state, county and relief agencies) until it came time for the military to leave. After they left, General Akers wrote a letter, later published in the Garden Island, complimenting me on my leadership.
What happened was a disaster of unprecedented destruction and an amazing response of public and private acts of initiative, courage and caring that over several years (recovery was a long process that didn’t happen overnight) carried Kauai through a collective life-threatening experience back to healing and wholeness.
We learned what was really important — our lives, our families, our community, and the will to overcome and thrive once again. It’s happening now as we witness the courage and strength of the victims of the recent flood and the outpouring of love and support from the community.
•••
JoAnn Yukimura is councilwoman with the Kauai County Council.
I love this revisionist history! Me and all the boys have out Lenny signs up! Dont see many yukimura signs. Retire already, Lenny got this. (Ps: thanks for always censoring my comments TGI, you guys are really a standup propaganda arm
For the islands rich, thank you!!)
Thank you Joanne for setting the record straight.
Another issue never addressed was why Coco Palms and other businesses and residences are still today in ruin or disrepair.
Some insurance companies did not live up to their contracts and denied the policy holders their fair reimbursements for repairs and loss of income per their policies, or promised them a settlement dollar value and told the policy holders they must accept a partial payout and complete part of the repairs and then receive the 2nd part of the settlement.
The 2nd part of the settlement would never come, the insurance carriers repsondong with only a “We closed your claim, here is our attorneys business card!”
Most people faded away unable to deal with lawyers at the same time trying to close up, and / or roof their homes for protection from the generous rains of Kauai. Others the courts expectedly sided with the insurance companies that they had paid enough, well maybe for the courthouse, but what about the little guys’ homes and Coco Palms.
The newspaper reported that the Coco Palms contractor said it would cost $27 million to fix Coco Palms, the insurance company offered $7 million. CocoPalms is still sitting in ruins and eyesore after over 25 years and the constructors are saying that today’s costs are $175 million to restore Coco Palms and that is not a full return to the original but a compromise to full restoration.
Wasn’t It reported that Coco Palms already paid or will pay about $1.75 million just to demolish some of the ruins in order to be able to start rebuilding at the today’s cost of $175 Million?
Some of the lingering effects of Iniki that is still impact
Bravo for this response and glad to hear that we should have a spirited contest for Mayor.
No doubt the peanut gallery will chime in with their own version of history, JoAnn. In spite of not knowing the whole story, they feel compelled to lay blame on anyone in authority for whatever might have gone wrong during the Iniki recovery, whether real or perceived. This was an extraordinary time in Kauai’s history and many, many people got involved and did extraordinary things to help get the island “back on its feet.” I know I speak for others when I say “Thank you for your leadership.”
Thanks for some much-needed perspective.
Why then, did JoAnn send an apology letter to west side residents when she last ran for mayor?
To JoAnn’s comment regarding Johnny Rita’s “opinion” yes its his opinion however he isn’t the only person with the same opinion of what took place during Hurricane Iniki while you were Mayor, he’s just the only one that took the time to write his TRUE opinion to the Garden Island. What did YOU do for the west side community?
On another note…. JoAnn can you explain why you don’t want the land field in your neck of the woods? and keep pushing for it to stay on the west side? Many tend to keep talking trash about Mel, Derek making a living in politics and not accomplishing anything, well who went from mayor to council now wanting to be mayor AGAIN..
Mahalo JoAnn for everything you’ve done for Kauai, and for all the things you hopefully will be given the opportunity to do in the future.
Hey, Kauai’s geezers just know stuff. Once they know stuff, they’ll believe that stuff for 25 years. Don’t try to tell Kauai’s geezers the truth. They can’t handle the truth!
Aloha,
I applaud the efforts of Mayor JoAnn during Iniki. She took the lead in our recovery from a disaster of unprecedented destruction, she will continue to take the lead in our recent flooding in Hanalei. JoAnn,
mahalo for all yo do.
Peter Sit.
Ms. Yukimura
I knew you would deny what I shared with the people about your term as mayor and leader of the island. Lets be truthful about what happened. You didn’t give much support the people of the westside nor did you accept the help offered by the military at that time. Why would I lie about this? what would I gain by “making things up”?. So you can write all you want and you can try to justify all that you did but many of us know the truth. And that Ms. Yukimura is why you did not get reelected as mayor after the Iniki as mayor despite all your efforts
This rebuttal was a detailed and effective one. Mr Rita’s pants have been pulled down to his ankles; in public. Yet, he clings to his anecdotal geezer blather. He has made things worse for himself by using a hackneyed phrase: “You didn’t give much support…” and the already disproved “…you [didn’t] accept the help offered by the military…” instead of providing some kind of evidence, or logical argument, or reasoned reflection.
Strike three Rita! You’re OUT.
John Rita. The Mayor can’t call the military in but the Governor can. That’s why Mayor Yukimura called the Governor. Do you think the Mayor has the power to stop the military from coming in with aid? No, but the Governor can.
Do you think the Mayor can tell the military how and to whom they can hand out their supplies? A General and only a General makes those decisions, they’re military decisions that’s why they would use the census, now the census could be old information or inaccurate if people didn’t respond to the census bureau request for information.
In you comment you mentioned all the supplies going to Lihue, did you not know about the Hanapepe Armory? If so I am sorry that you didn’t get all your needs met. There are a lot of people on this island that aren’t getting their needs met now and have lost everything. Let’s help them.
It’s nice to reminisce about events that occurred over a quarter of a century ago but time moves on. The key issues facing voters NOW are out-of-control development, aging roads and infrastructure, saving the beauty of our Island and our environment, and affordable housing. The good ol’ boys network (Lenny, Mel, and the others) are in the pockets of the big landowners and developers. Joanne is slow growth and an environmentalist. This is what matters to this voter, and I’m sure many others. The last thing we need is to see Kauai turned into another Honolulu with endless urban sprawl.