I remember back on September 11, 1992 on Kauai. Woke up. Sirens blaring. No school?! YAY! Neighbors scrambling. Taping and nailing plywood on their windows. I had NO idea what was going on. Dad told me a hurricane is on its way. I didn’t think anything of it. I already went through Hurricane Iwa 10 years before that so I didn’t think it was going to be that bad.
We sat through the hurricane, my brothers and I eating rice krispies cereal while my dad peaked out the window and my mom praying. A couple hours went by and it was still for a little while. The eye. Winds started up again even stronger. Our house started to shake. I started wondering if our home was going to blow open. Now that was scary!
After it was over, we saw the damages outside. No one could drive anywhere. Thank goodness nothing happened to our home. We lived at the bottom of a mountain so I guessed that blocked most of the winds. My friend’s house at the top of that mountain were gone. We didn’t have electricity or warm water for a long time…maybe about a month? Ran out of food. We were grateful for food shelters and getting military rations. The day electricity came back was the happiest feeling ever…no wait, it was the day we could get hot water.
It was said to be the strongest hurricane to hit Hawaii, 145 mph winds. Which is crazy scary now I think about it. Hurricane Ana being category 1? That’s nothing.
Today we sat at home through rains thankful that the hurricane turned and didn’t hit us. Each time during those warnings during hurricane season I think of the times back then sitting on our dining table eating rice krispies cereal, cold water baths, and eating beef stew out of a plastic pouch under a light bulb running off a generator. Probably the closest we were spending family time together.
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This shot was taken the day before Hurricane Ana was said to hit. It looked like a combo of a storm coming over a pretty sunset.
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