HAENA — The grounds of the YMCA Camp Naue in Haena were buzzing with activity Wednesday afternoon. Food and household items were trucked and helicopters arrived bearing supplies and then evacuated residents.
For one resident who lives on Wainiha Powerhouse Road with her parents, going through the weekend’s storm has been an experience she’ll likely not forget.
“It was kind of scary. I was in my bed sleeping and my mom woke me up and brought me down to her bed,” said 8-year-old Lola Breshnahan.
She said the rain was pelting her house so hard, it was difficult to sleep.
“I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I just laid there and watched the lightning,” she said.
After moving to the bottom of the bed, Lola Breshnahan said she was finally able to fall asleep.
Throughout it all, she said she missed her dad John Breshnahan the most, who was off island during the storm and unable to get home for a couple of days.
Though Lola Breshnahan said the storm was scary, she said her mom was more frightened than she was.
One thing she said that comforted her is when her second-grade teacher Patty Hawkinson called twice to check in on them.
Lola Breshnahan had doubts about going back to school.
“I want to see what damage was done there, but I also don’t want to see what damage was done there,” she said.
Haena resident Dylan James was bringing some of his belongings to his place of work Wednesday and then heading back home to work on his house. Luckily, he said, his house fared well during the storm.
“We’re on a high spot, so no real damage,” he said. “Water’s underneath my house, about six inches deep, two inches away from being devastating and destroying some of my stuff.”
The storm, he said, was intimidating, because the water kept rushing in.
“It was out of your control,” he said, “couldn’t do anything to stop it.”
“It’s an experience. It’s something that’ll probably never happen again. There’s a novelty to it,” he said.
As far as Kauai goes, he said it’s like the storm reset everything.
“In one night of rain, the whole North Shore is changed. It’s hard to put it into words,” he said.
Coordinating with Malama Kauai, Rose Vali, who lives across the street from the YMCA camp where the evacuations are taking place and much of the food and household items are being dropped off, said that since the storm and relief effort, they have been busy.
“We have three centers out here. One in Wainiha and one at the Colony Resort, so families have three places to go for items,” she said.
At the YMCA camp, she said they are setting up a soup kitchen and were planning on feeding about 200 people on Wednesday night.
Wednesday was the first day they received fresh produce and eggs and the community was excited about that.
“We’re prepared to keep this open two or three weeks,” she said.
Assisting in organizing household items and clothing at the YMCA Food Distribution Center, Lauren Leilani Gauthier, 18, said the weekend’s storm was radical.
“Thunder and lightning literally was nonstop for eight hours. Rain, it was like a monsoon. It felt like for at least a day it was pelting,” she said.
As far as the community coming together in support of the survivors, she said what’s happening is the true spirit of aloha.
“Our community was devastated with the power of the earth and water,” Gauthier said. “I’m glad to see our community come together and help each other like a family. I think that’s what aloha is about, coming together and joining forces to imua.”
The word imua, she said, means to go forward, but also to rise.
“The landslide may have devastated people’s homes, cars and the landscape around here, but not our hopes,” she said.
During the storm, Lola Breshnahan’s father John, was off island, participating in a paddle race from Maui to Molokai.
“My wife was home holding down the fort. I didn’t have a way to get here,” he said.
Home alone with her two daughters, Angie Breshnahan said it was frightening laying in her bed with them when she knew that neighbors’ houses were getting washed away.
What got John Breshnahan through those two nights was being able to call his family often. Eventually, he was able to rejoin them, when he caught a boat from Anini Beach to Wainiha on Monday.
“I got home at noon on Monday,” he said. “Our house held up. We own property on Powerhouse Road, we lost a lot of land due to landslides,” he said.
He, along with his daughters, helped shovel some of the dirt from the landslides blocking the roads.
For John Breshnahan, evacuating is bittersweet. As a computer programmer, he’ll be able to continue working remotely, once they get to the home they’ll be renting in Hanalei, but it’s important for their family to get their two young daughters out.
“Everybody’s been looking to help everybody,” he said. “A real strong Wainiha community. It’s kind of hard to leave because there’s a lot of work that needs to be done.”
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Bethany Freudenthal, courts, crime and county reporter, 652-7891 bfreudenthal@thegardenisland.com.
