Hawaii: No electricity after Hurricane Lala

Take a live look. We're gonna take you to Hilo after a category one hurricane, Lala, didn't quite hit landfall, but it was right off the coast there. It's been downgraded last night. It passed the big island without making landfall and voided what would have been the island's first direct hurricane hit in many, many years. It's now headed west as it gradually weekends and becomes a tropical storm. Beautiful view. Is there just waking up there? That's a wahoo second city, and it is kind of the calm after the storm, so to speak. So in a moment, we're gonna speak with a restaurant owner who kind of weathered the storm there on the big island, and it's been tough sledding. They have no electricity in some. I think you mentioned three ft of rain in some areas. Yes, the big island reported three ft of rain, 140 mile per hour winds there at the summit as well. And that's even without a direct hit without a direct hit. Yes. And I think I read somewhere 130,000 homes without power or homes and businesses. So the big islands of mass. Yes, yes, yes, yes. And it continues to rain. They could see 5 to 10 inches more before all said and done. There's a look at Lala there. It is starting to deteriorate, but nonetheless continuing to bring a heavy rain and thunderstorms to areas over a wahoo. There you can see and is expected again continue with the rainfall, the storm surge, the high surf and the winds. Here's a look at some of the storm reports from the last 24 hours and again going over towards the big island where that summit area reporting 140 mile per hour winds. The wind's not that strong any longer. As we talked about, it has weakened back to a tropical storm. And right now the winds west northwest at 14 MPH with wind sustained at 70 MPH over the next 24 hours, continuing to erode as it pushes off toward the west and away from Hawaii. But again, they're gonna have a lot of cleanup going on and still a lot of impacts that will happen today. Frank. All right. And we're gonna keep that theme going. Lala did not make landfall in Hawaii, but she still pounded the islands with wind. And as you heard over three ft of water, especially on the big island, that's where we find our guests. Brandon Lee is a big island native and owner of two restaurants, Napua at the Malalani Beach Club and Lahua Farm to Table restaurant on the island. Brandon, uh, no electricity. We can see you there in the dark, but tell us what you went through last night. Yeah, it was. It was a really tough night for many last night. Um, yeah, we're still a lot of power over here. We'll probably be out of power the rest of the day. There was a time last night about eight o'clock when the crew, the utility crew members had to be called off and brought back inside, and it was a little too dangerous for them to fix. So we just went through the night. No power, no, nothing played cards with the kids and did that kind of stuff. But it it got, you know, yesterday morning, I was confident that it wasn't gonna be that bad. And then by about two o'clock yesterday, it really started to get crazy. Um, trees down everywhere. We heard about the mayor spoke this morning about a few homes got swept off the foundation and down south got a really bad. But, you know, right here in downtown Hilo, right in the Bayfront, we have this soccer field, and it's about knee deep water the whole downtown. So it's gonna be a tough day. And what? What is your biggest concern today? You own two restaurants. You've got a pig farm there. What is priority one? Yeah, priority one is like, you know, we have a lot of visitors here and we have, um, you know, a lot of people that are away from their homes and stuff. So, you know, Hawaii people were the best. And even though we're gonna be going through, you know, our own cleanups and our own stuff at home, we do get out, uh, to our jobs as servers as you know, whatever at the hotels or whatever. And we do do our best. So just be patient with us. We are doing with a lot dealing with a lot at home, you know, and just, uh, the spirit is real. And this is when it really shows. So it's an opportunity for us to show how beautiful we are as people. Yeah. How about the infrastructure? Did you move around the island a little bit before you got back to your restaurant this morning? And, uh, and for crying out loud, did you even go to bed last night? Yeah. I mean, it was loud and crazy. Trees are going down all night. If you guys know, like he looks like a lot of trees, a lot of banyan trees. But the whole island got affected. I know why I know Kohala had a really tough night, and these are all, you know, my friends and family that also work at the restaurants and all this stuff. So, you know, they're just like, really kind of, you know, we're talking with everybody, but for sure, water coming in houses, roofs falling off. I mean, whole whole homes swept away. The cultures were all overflowing, and it's just all pumps. You know, we're on an island, which is a giant hill. So water does pick up speed. So a lot of the roads closed and, you know, I'm just trying to make my way back to why Koloa, which is gonna take me probably a couple hours with all the stuff going on. So, yeah, just be patient with everybody and really enjoy an interesting time in Hawaii to watch the people be great. Yeah, I'm restaurant wise. Do you have any time clock on that? Or right now it's just about family and making sure everyone's okay. Well, I look, that's a big part of it, right? There's a big group of people on the other side of the island that have no place to eat. Everything was closed. You know, the hotels are trying to do their best by feeding everybody. Um, but then, you know, you're trying to call people into work when all the roads are closed. So, uh, it is a tough time. I hope to get out there this morning and kind of assess the situation. I know we always have a flood problem that kind of pours right into the walk in refrigerator. So I know I'm gonna end up going into the fridge and it probably be ankle deep water in there. So we'll have to squeegee everything out and clean up the restaurant and make it look like nothing happened. And, um, yeah, and I know you you've got a pig farm on the island. Were you able to secure your livestock? We were talking about piglets last night. How did that work out? Yeah, 10 piglets. They're all doing well. Already had one of the boys go out there and check on them. Uh, yeah, we prepped the whole I do a pasture raised pig farm. So you have to keep it. You know, you're outside. You're not bringing them in. They're not under cover. So what you do is you, uh, put them on the hill so the water can run away. We don't have any stagnants, you know, plugged up water, make sure all the water can run out. And, you know, we learned that in past storms and, um, yeah, everybody survived this time around. So, you know, that was great, you know, but not everybody has great positive stories like that right now. So, you know, I don't wanna be happy about that too much because there are some really tough stories out there. I can only imagine you just got to walk a couple of feet there. And finally, just maybe some more thoughts about the island spirit, that aloha spirit, the way the community has come together. Um, your restaurant community and in hers too. I'm sure everyone was pitching in. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think the aloha spirit is contagious. Once you see that we're not gonna be, you know, down and negative about things and you'll see us be positive and help each other. I mean, we've already all called and just texas going around, you know, social media, everybody's sharing, everybody's okay. How's your power? You know, some of us had babies in the last couple of weeks and different things. So we're just all checking in on each other. And you know, Hawaii is a very, very special place. And um, if you're a tourist and you're here, you'll get to see that you'll get to see everybody be really nice to each other. So that's really great. All right. Well, brandon, we really appreciate your time. I know you had a really tough day and probably a tough evening into this morning, getting up at God's hours in pitch black there in Hawaii, where it's just a little after six o'clock. Uh, all the best with your restaurants, your pig farm and bringing that community back to life. Godspeed, my friend. Thank you.