KAPA’A — For most Kapa’a town merchants, the day after a cold front on Wednesday stiffed Kaua’i with winds up to 60 miles an hour and drenched the island meant sweeping away branches and debris from storefronts.
For Milli Andrade, manager for Sarongs Bali, the effects of the freak storm meant building up a new storefront.
A thatched hut, which housed the business and is located on property owned by Otsuka’s Furniture and Appliances store in Kapa’a, had been lashed by Kona winds Tuesday night.
Across the highway from Sarongs Bali, the Kaua’i Product Fair also suffered wind damage, but according to manager Therese Jasper, the fair was up and running by yesterday following repairs to tents.
By dawn Wednesday, four wooden support posts had been ripped from their cement foundations by the winds, causing Andrade’s hut to topple over.
Andrade said she felt as if the storm had singled out the business she manages. The 10-year-old business was the only one at the north end of Kapa’a town that’s been left devastated by the windiest storm to hit Kaua’i since Hurricane ‘Iniki struck in 1992.
Andrade said her first thoughts Wednesday morning were of the business.
She said she was informed of the damaged hut by phone Wednesday, and when she arrived at the hut site, the sight filled her with dread and shock.
“I just about cried my heart out,” Andrade said. “It was like a mini-‘Iniki. I was here for ‘Iniki. That feeling came over me again.”
She was accompanied to the hut site by Mark Stroh. Stroh’s wife, Niluh is in Bali redesigning sarongs for retail sale at the hut. Andrade is a business associate of Niluh, who owns the business.
Andrade said the Balinese-style hut had been built sturdily by Stroh and had withstood the impact of storms over the last four years.
“This time, it (the hut) met its match and (the winds) proved too much,” she said. “This was a freak accident.” Retail goods had been sold from another hut at the site for six years before it was replaced by the hut that was severely damaged by the recent storm.
Andrade said friends and customers who drove by the damaged hut were almost at a loss for words by what they saw.
“The look and sadness as well as shock were written all over everyone’s faces,” Andrade said. “(But) the help and kokua and warm aloha from everyone was overwhelmingly refreshing.”
She also said her company’s losses would have been worse and items could have been lost had it not been for the surveillance efforts of employees at Otsuka’s store.
Sarongs Bali operates its business on the lot through an agreement with the owners of Otsuka’s store, Andrade said.
Salvaging efforts began after the storm, and the roof and other hut structures were saved to be used when another hut structure is put up, she said.
Plans are underway to do that. In the meantime, Sarongs Bali will be operating under a tent from 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, Andrade said.
“I am glad it (the blustery storm) lasted only one day,” Andrade said. “It created so much havoc, not only for us but for everybody.”
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
