Hawaii Hunkers Down
Jan 16th, 2009 by Capsun
When I started writing this post, it was 10 pm Thursday night. And, like many other public employees, I have today off. Why? Because a major storm system is hitting Hawaii. Although you couldn’t tell that by looking around. Of course, it could just be the calm before the storm. It seems we’re all preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best, which I think is a common reaction. After all, we don’t want a repeat of the December 26 blackout. But remember, even an island-wide blackout couldn’t stop me from blogging, although it did delay the blog. I honor my commitments, which Capsun’s Corner is, whether that is easy or difficult to do. Just in case I am without power, this post is being released at 1:00 am, so my claim to giving you a daily dose of my take on things since October 29 will continue to hold true.
The first notice I got about the closures was an alert from UH Manoa, saying the campus would be closed. That seems to have started a domino effect. A little while later came a notice that all UH campuses except those on Hawaii Island (Big Island) would be closed. Then when talking to a friend at the Capitol, he noted that they were closing. That seems to have set-off enough alarms that officials from the DOE announced Leeward schools were closed. Later, all schools except those on Hawaii Island were ordered closed. Gov. Lingle and Mayor Hannemann gave State and Honolulu government employees off. Maui was next to follow, giving their government employees a day off. Officials are also closing beaches in Waianae.
Yet again, it was another opportunity for Twitter to shine as it did during the blackout (see here and here). Three Tweeps (Twitter people, if you didn’t know) made three different suggestions, so I had to use three hash tags: #hiwinds (by @LaurieCicotello), #makani (by @zztype), and #makani09 (by @danseto). I think most people would have just selected one, but I didn’t want to play favorites.
So I immediately went into emergency mode, just in case I don’t have power:
- Closed all the windows/louvers
- Cooked dinner early
- Ran the dishwasher (twice)
- Ran the washer and dryer (twice)
- Grabbed all the flashlights (I have to admit, I’m afraid of the dark, so I have about a dozen flashlights at home. After the blackout, I made sure all the batteries were changed, so no need for that this time around.)
- Filled the bath tub and any available containers with water, for toilet flushing and other necessities (We live on the 6th floor, so if the electricity goes, so does our water pump.)
- Charged the laptop, iPhones, and portable DVD player.
It was enough to allow me to sleep at night.
Someone even asked, “So the whole state is shutting down cause of wind? is this for real?” But then I got to thinking, what if today ends up being a beautiful, sunny day? No matter what, we know the State Capitol employees will have to report to work on the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. I actually think it will be a good thing if everything ends up being just fine. Public perception is often that government is reactionary, so it’s good to see our leaders taking precautions. Again, let’s hope for the best.
Mahalo!
Well being a city bus driver we were having evacuation buses all day yestereday. I wasn’t one of those as I stayed in Waikiki on my number 8. Well nothing really came of the weather and I couldn’t figure it out. I get a call around 9 pm saying my dayoff had been cancelled as the scheduling was going to change. Needless to say I was frustrated with that but understood. My whole point to this is yes, it’s better to be safe than sorry. It is a much better response than the black out of last month, but hey how to you deal with mother nature? She does what she wants to do. And I have the day off which will be nice. Yard is a mess with the leaves and then there is always trying to figure out what I’m going to do with Wordpress. Enjoy your day off.
Mahalo
10:29 AM HST. Well, your words at the end of your post ring true — The Honolulu Advertiser said that “Oahu appears to have seen the worst of the gusty winds…” I flew over from Kauai on the last flight yesterday after I heard that CJ Moon had closed the Judiciary. I was worried that this situation really was serious since the last time I got an impromptu day off from anything was the flood through UH Manoa — I didn’t want to miss my flight on friday with the possibility that the airports could be jammed up. Like the poster said above, “better safe than sorry.” Looks like I got an early start to my three day weekend just like you.
Thom: Mahalo for being willing to come in on your day off and help fellow residents. I truly appreciate what you and the many other bus drivers do every day. Hopefully, most people just used the impromptu dayoff to spend time with family and friends, the things worth protecting inemergencies/disasters.
Bunga: Yes, I’m also grateful the storm damage didn’t pan out. I, too, have a flight to catch, but tomorrow, so that could have been problematic if there were lots of stranded passengers trying to get on our flight.
I made dinner early and did my laundry, too. My lights were flickering off and on last night and I was doing my chores with a small but powerful flashlight in my back pocket. I didn’t want to have to go hunting for it in the dark like the last time!
[...] to swing by to interview her as part of his segment on visiting restaurants. But due to the expected high winds that really didn’t pan out, he had to reschedule, needing to cover weather-related stories [...]