By Friday morning, the Kona Storm had moved in over a Hawaii resort, and the wind was strong enough to send tiki torches and lawn furniture from the pool flying through the property. The people staying there had already lost power the night before, and many chose to remain because they wanted to stay safe.
Most of the Hawaiians at the resort said they had never seen a storm like this in their lifetime, calling it a mini monsoon as heavy rain and high winds battered the area. One guest, Mick Fleetwood, was there as the storm knocked out the lights again and again on Friday morning.
The outage was not total. The resort had a generator for the office, but not for the rooms, leaving guests to ride out the storm without power where they were sleeping. That gap mattered once the rain intensified, because the electricity went out a few more times during the heavy weather and the storm kept moving through the morning.
The scene underscored how unusually severe the Kona Storm felt to people on the ground, especially in a place where many said they had never experienced anything like it. For those who stayed, the decision was simple: with the power already failing and conditions worsening, the resort felt safer than going elsewhere.
What comes next is the hard part for the property and for everyone still waiting out the weather: restoring full power to the rooms after a storm that left even longtime Hawaiians describing it as something they had never seen before.
