A Brigham Young University, Provo, student woke up to a video sent by her family of her home in Oahu, filled with water. This is the new reality for many Hawaii residents, especially in the North Shore.
Hawaii experienced its worst flooding in more than 20 years this month, after several back-to-back storms — called kona lows — hit Oahu island. Hard-hit areas, including the North Shore, are suffering the most, with millions of dollars in damage and thousands of evacuations.
Mikayla Yuen’s family, from Laie in the North Shore, woke up on Friday, March 13, to their house filled with six inches to a foot of water. She is now navigating what it’s like to be away from home during this tragedy, as her seven family members have evacuated to a nearby house with elevation.
“I sobbed,” Yuen said when waking up to her family’s text. “I cried my eyes out, feeling so helpless … and how dirty everything was — seeing how muddy that water was — it was insane. I just felt so sad for my family that I can’t be there.”
The first storm struck Hawaii on March 10, bringing inches of rain across the islands. It continued through the weekend. The island and houses are ravaged by mud, streets are pounded with water, bringing in debris, and dumpsters are overfilled with carpet and furniture.
To help, Hawaii organizations, like Inside Outreach, whose goal is to partner with and help anyone in need, have been coordinating volunteers to remove debris and clean areas. Inside Outreach Executive Director Josue Aguilar said it will be a long recovery.
“I believe about four to six houses were completely destroyed, and then several others were flooded, where it just destroyed everything interior,” Aguilar said. “And then a lot of the farms, they lost everything.”
He said there’s been an overwhelming number of people who want to volunteer.
“We had an overabundance of volunteers, which is an awesome problem to have,” Aguilar said. “The farms are still going to need a lot of help going long-term, and the residents as well. … A lot of these families lost everything.”
More than 3,000 miles away, Yuen said she is trying to do her part by raising awareness.
“My heart aches really, really badly,” Yuen said.
She said she posts on social media about donation opportunities, sharing footage of the damage and asking for prayer for her community.
“The community has been a huge part in repairs and with coming together,” she said. “Huge shoutout to my community for taking care of my ohana. Because of their service and love, I’ve been able to be relieved on my end.”
Reaves Dayton, a fourth-year nursing major at Point Loma Nazarene University, is from Kalihi Valley, which is on the south side of Oahu and about an hour away from the North Shore.
“One of the biggest heartbreaks is seeing houses flood away and watching waves of wood and mud just filling people’s houses,” she said.
Being away from home has caused Dayton to feel detached with a heavy heart. As president of a PLNU organization for people from Hawaii called Hui ʻO Hawaiʻi, she said they are making efforts to educate the school community.
“I live on the opposite side of the island, so I’m OK, but the community that I’m from isn’t OK,” Dayton said. “That’s why Hui ʻO Hawaiʻi, as a club and as an organization, we’re getting together and … figuring out how we can get information out.”
The goal her team is trying to achieve is to get communities that aren’t from Hawaii or see it as a distant vacation spot to show care for those who are from the island.
“A bunch of people went [to Hawaii] for spring break … right after they left is when all this happened,” Dayton said. “The people that couldn’t get out of there, that live there, that’s who we have to care about, so we’re trying to get [people] to care a little more.”
She said she is encouraged to see her people unite and help each other, which is the aloha spirit.
“It’s been one of the most rewarding things and one of the things I’m most prideful in when saying I’m from Hawaii is the whole community aspect of it. … That is what aloha means — like show up for your community, and it means to put aside all of your differences.”
North Shore Run Club is another group that has been helping the community. Madi Nygaard, the club’s co-host, said when the flooding began, the group started looking for ways to help, including beach clean-ups and demoing kitchens and bathrooms.
“We wanted to give as much as we could,” Nygaard said. “This is literally what we train for. … Being able to train and be strong and volunteer all week, that’s truly what we train for.”
They each urge people to stay informed about the disaster and seek resources for donating, such as the Lahui Foundation, Hawaiian Council, Red Cross and Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians).
Carson Dillon 
Ava Bailey-Klugh