KAUAʻI (HawaiiNewsNow) – Kauaʻi, like the rest of the state, usually welcomes visitors. But in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Lowell, the message to tourists is clear: now is not the time to visit.
“If you’re very insistent on visiting Kauai, just be clear that you’re not going to see the Kauai that you imagined or you thought you would see because of what happened with Hurricane Lowell,” said retired tourism executive Mufi Hannemann.
Hannemann said the priority on Kauaʻi is helping residents recover from Lowell’s damaging winds and storm surge.
“The greatest needs on Kauaʻi are food, electricity and gas,” he said. “And unless you are going there to provide that kind of relief or assistance, or you’re visiting family, this is not the time to visit.”
Hundreds of people crowded Līhuʻe Airport Sunday night in long lines, leaving Kauaʻi as the hurricane approached. There were some who either couldn’t get a flight out, or wanted to ride out the storm.
Dave Reid was with family and friends on the Garden Isle for a wedding and decided to stay.
“It was actually pretty scary,” he told CBS News. “I always said I want to ride out a hurricane. I don’t want to ever do it again.”
“I wish we would have left,” he added. “We had an opportunity to leave, and we didn’t.”
It was far from the typical visitor experience, and the early stage of recovery remains challenging.
“I’d say there’s some degree of panic right now,” said Jeff Tucker. “We saw that today in lines for the gas station. We’ve never seen lines that long, miles long.”
Travel writers Jeff Tucker and Rob Kvidt, co-founders of “Beat of Hawaiʻi,” are also longtime Kauai residents.
They, too, are advising people not to come.
“We want it to be a good experience for everyone, and right now, all of us are fatigued and tired and stressed,” said Kvidt. “We’re just trying to get through all of this.”
“Even at the hotels and rentals, the priority is displaced residents that have lost their home and those that don’t have a place to stay anymore,” said Hannemann. “That’s the priority right now.”
They recommend that in the short term, tourists consider visiting other Hawaiian islands while Kauaʻi recovers.
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