HONOLULU (KHON2) – From an engineering standpoint, emergency officials say most Hawaii buildings do not meet hurricane shelter criteria.
“The state has criteria for shelters depending on construction and design and most of the buildings in our inventory don’t meet that criteria,” explained Honolulu’s Department of Emergency Management Director Hiro Toiya.
Kauai and Honolulu have sought alternatives known as hurricane refuge areas which are mostly in state Department of Education school buildings, like gyms or cafeterias.
“So, while these buildings do not meet the criteria and definition of a hurricane shelter, they do serve as better alternative and they are the best we have in our building inventory to make available to the public,” Toiya explained.
In 2020 and 2021, Honolulu Emergency Management hired professionals to look at over 120 buildings deemed hurricane safe, but only 38 were considered safe enough.
“These are meant to be shelters of last resort, they do not fit the formal criteria of a hurricane shelter but it will offer protection from the element, they are out of flood zones,” Toiya added.
The map, which can be found here, shows only one shelter between Waiahole and Mililani Mauka.
“It left some glaring gaps on the map in terms of geographic coverage,” Toiya said. He added that it could be seen as a good thing because it took buildings that were not safe off the list.
But he said Hi-EMA and officials are working to get more shelters up to par with state hurricane shelter codes.
“One of the top areas we’re looking at is Waialua, where we previously had Waialua High and intermediate as a shelter and we took it off the list after our initial assessments and we asked the state to prioritize it for retrofits next,” Toiya explained. He said it’s not a fast fix, and typically any retrofits, which aren’t cheap, would have to be done during summer break when school isn’t in session.
The Hui O Hauula non-profit has spent the last three years getting grants and about $5 million in funding for a 30,000 square foot shelter in Hauula that can withstand a category five hurricane and fit 1,500 people.
“The building will be out of flood and extreme tsunami zone so we’re talking about a really hardened amazing building that will also be off the grid for 30 days or more,” explained Dotty Kelly-Paddock, Executive Director at Hui o Hauula.
Kelly-Paddock said after doing a risk analysis of the rural windward area, she knew her community needed a safe place to go in case Kamehameha Highway was damaged or destroyed in any event.
She said the environmental assessment will be completed by next month and they hope to break ground by the end of this year.
“We need infrastructure to serve the community in the event of a disaster and we know its not if but when,” said added.
She says it could take three years to complete.
Kauai said there are 17 refuge locations on island, the list can be found here.
They too are doing assessments on buildings just like Honolulu, and completed Phase 1 last year. County officials said they and kicking off phase 2 soon and will look at new facilities not assessed last year. They say they will migrate away from using the term shelter for these hurricane locations.
Maui said they have 21 locations on Maui, four on Molokai and two on Lanai.