HECO power shut-off program to go into effect July 1

HONOLULU (KHON2) – Hawaiian Electric’s public safety power shut-off program goes into effect on July 1.

That means many Leeward communities could their have power shut off if conditions are prime for fires.

The shut-off, depending on the weather and what island, could impact thousands of residents across the state.

“This is really a last line of defense to protect our communities against high-risk conditions for wildfires,” said HECO spokesperson Darren Pai.

The high-risk communities are mostly leeward areas like Waianae Coast, west Maui, and Waikoloa.

“Our community is not prepared,” said Nanakuli/Maili Neighborhood Board Chair Samantha Decorte. “They [HECO] gave us a general area of where these outages would happen, but we got to get more specific because according to the plan, there are about 2,100 residents who could be without power.”

Decorte invited HECO to the neighborhood board meeting earlier this week.

During the meeting, several residents said they weren’t happy to hear power could be off for potentially days at a moment’s notice.

“To get power shut off and not being able to store food, and those who are in hospice care it’s an inconvenience,” Decorte said. She said she hopes HECO can find a way to incentivize residents who are impacted by potential outages.

Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center said their emergency room has a generator that could be on for a few days.

“We’ve been told they have ability to leave power on at our medical clinics,” said Rich Bettini, president and CEO of WCCHC.

The non-profit Elepaio partnered with the food bank to ensure West Oahu would have food.

“Pre-positioning some of the nonperishable foods to some of our partners along with foodbank is going to be one of our large roles,” explained Christopher Fujimoto, Elepaio social services food access coordinator.

He said the non-profit is also working on driving people who depend on home medical devices out of the no power zone, if needed.

The Board of Water Supply said its working closely with the City and County of Honolulu and Hawaiian Electric to ensure that its prepared in the event of a Public Safety Power Shutoff by HECO.

However, BWS said it must emphasize that if the power outage is extended and it takes time for the power to come back on after the PSPS is called off, there is a strong likelihood that water service will be interrupted for several days.

HECO said outages could last several hours to several days, depending on weather conditions.

The BWS said it has generators it will place in key locations, and priority will be to keep the water flowing for the fire hydrants.

BWS said everyone should be prepared to have a supply of fresh drinking water on hand.

In addition to storing water, the BWS asks people to conserve it as well.

“The BWS will work diligently to restore water service but we must all be prepared,” said Ernest Lau, Manager and Chief Engineer. “We are offering free emergency water jugs to assist with storing water. Please email us at contactus@hbws.org for more information. For more information on disaster preparations, pls visit boardofwatersupply.com/prep.

“What gets shut off depends on weather conditions, we really want to limit this as much as possible to minimize the impact as much as possible,” explained Pai.

The National Weather Service said it looks at three factors when issuing a red flag warning; winds 20 miles per hour or more, low humidity and drought.

Typically, red flag warnings are issued at the end of July or early August; but because the state saw so much rain from late-season storms, it’s likely Hawaii won’t reach the red flag warning threshold until late August, or early September this year.

“That late-season Kona Low wiped out a lot of drought in areas,” explained John Bravender, NWS Honolulu warning coordination meteorologist. “However, we do still have some moderate to severe drought on Maui and the big island like Leeward Haleakala and interior portions of the Big Island.”

For the PSPS to go into effect, HECO said winds would have to be sustained at 45-plus miles per hour.

The NWS said the state averages five red flag days per year.

“But that varies a lot, sometimes there’s zero days and then we have had up to 23 days in 2010,” Bravender said. “It varies but we only see a few days per year and add on those strong damaging winds days, those are even more rare in…