9 a.m. update: Hawaiian Electric using heavy equipment, extra personnel to speed restoration efforts ahead of next storm

9 a.m. update: Hawaiian Electric using heavy equipment, extra personnel to speed restoration efforts ahead of next storm

• About 1,450 without power - primarily on Hawaii Island

Release Date: 3/19/2026

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HONOLULU, March 19, 2026 - Overnight and early this morning, Hawaiian Electric restored nearly half of its remaining customers who were without power across Hawaii Island, Maui County and Oahu after the powerful Kona low storm. Additional personnel arrived on Hawaii Island today and the company continues preparations for a new stormfront that may impact the state as early as tonight.

Weather permitting, helicopters will be used to transport large equipment to remote areas today. Specialized equipment and heavy machinery such as bulldozers are needed to clear accessways and other debris. In some locations, cranes are required to remove large, uprooted or fallen trees.

As of 8 a.m.:

• Hawaii Island: Power was restored to about 900 customers overnight in the Black Sands, Eden Rock, Fern Acres, Hawaiian Beaches, Hawaiian Paradise Park, Kalapana, Royal Hawaiian, Sea View, and Volcano subdivisions and some parts of Leilani and Nanawale. Crews also completed critical repairs to transmissions lines, which will help harden the grid ahead of the upcoming storm system. About 1,100 customers who were impacted by the storm remain without power. Today, crews are working in Leilani, Nanawale, and scattered areas around the island.
• Maui County: Overnight, crews brought more customers back online and today will focus on restoring about 290 remaining customers without power on Maui. Pending favorable weather conditions, a helicopter will be assisting crews with restoration efforts. Due to the upcoming storm forecast, some customers are being directly contacted to prepare for their outage to possibly extend into next week.
• Oahu: Power was restored to about 70 customers overnight. About 60 customers remain without power from the storm in small pockets across the island. Crews continue to make repairs to individual service lines that provide power to neighborhoods. Weather permitting, a specialized helicopter will be assisting crews repair a transmission line over the Koolau mountain range today, which will help provide much needed backup to Hawaii Kai and East Honolulu ahead of the upcoming storm.

The outage numbers above represent a snapshot in time and are subject to change as stated above. Customers can view current outages and report outages on the outage map.