Power Out for Over 10 Hours in Town

By Catherine Cluett Pactol

A fault on Maui Electric’s circuit left residents and businesses in Kaunakakai without power for more than 10 hours on the morning of Friday, July 2.

The outage began around 11:50 p.m. on July 1, and the majority of customers were restored at 9:40 a.m., according to Maui Electric. The remaining customers were brought back online around noon. Nearly 600 residents and businesses were affected.

The outage included homes in Ranch Camp and Manila Camp, Molokai General Hospital, and the majority of businesses in Kaunakakai. While some had backup generators to keep stock fresh, Friendly Market and others still had spoilages.

While most stores and businesses were forced to close during the outage, Kevin Misaki of Misaki’s Inc. said his store is on a different circuit from the majority of Kaunakakai and with the exception of a few surges, their electricity remained on.

“We were indirectly affected because with all the other stores closed, we were much busier,” said Misaki. “When we do have extended power outages, we usually have to deal with spoilage and damages. Again, we were lucky. Of course, this situation does also happen in reverse where we have no power, and everybody else has power.”

For some customers, the power temporarily came back on shortly before 10 a.m. then went back out until noon as crews worked to try and restore the circuit.

“We appreciate the public’s patience and understanding,” said Shayna Decker, a spokesperson for Maui Electric.