{"id":6134,"date":"2022-02-15T15:19:16","date_gmt":"2022-02-16T01:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/?p=6134"},"modified":"2026-05-01T13:41:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T23:41:00","slug":"news-release-major-disaster-declaration-for-kona-low-storm-damage-makes-federal-funds-available-for-repairs-mitigation-measures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/news-release-major-disaster-declaration-for-kona-low-storm-damage-makes-federal-funds-available-for-repairs-mitigation-measures\/","title":{"rendered":"NEWS RELEASE: Major Disaster Declaration for \u2018Kona Low\u201d Storm Damage Makes Federal Funds Available for Repairs, Mitigation Measures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n

Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Release No. 2022-010<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

HONOLULU<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 The U.S. President on Tuesday declared a major disaster<\/a> related to the record-breaking \u2018Kona low\u2019 storms of December 2021, opening a new source of assistance to help communities in Hawai\u2018i recover from wind, flooding, and landslide damage in Maui County and the City and County of Honolulu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The declaration also makes federal funding available for mitigation measures to prevent or lessen future damage across the State of Hawai\u2018i.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hawai\u2018i Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA) worked with our county partners and the federal government to document and justify assistance after Gov. David Y. Ige declared an emergency related to the incident. President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Feb. 15 granted the Major Disaster Declaration, covering severe storms, flooding, and landslides from Dec. 5-10, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese intense storms caused significant impacts across Hawai\u2018i, but the damage was particularly severe in portions of O\u2018ahu and Maui,\u201d said Luke Meyers, administrator of HI-EMA. \u201cI\u2019m gratified that our work with our county partners and the Federal Emergency Management Agency made it clear that this assistance was needed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The storms were generated by a powerful, spinning low-pressure system that swept bands of heavy rain across the state for days. The storms caused record rainfall, washed out roads, flooded electrical equipment causing widespread power outages, and caused landslides that affected both public and private property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The declaration, designated DR-4639, covers Public Assistance<\/a> for emergency work and repair or replacement of disaster-damaged infrastructure and facilities in the City and County of Honolulu and in Maui County, including Moloka\u2018i and Lana\u2018i. Governments and private nonprofits may apply, and eligible projects include debris removal and road and bridge work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also authorized Hazard Mitigation Grant Program<\/a> assistance throughout Hawai\u2018i for work to reduce or prevent the future risk to life and property from hazards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Separately, the U.S. Small Business Administration had already approved a disaster declaration<\/a> for the Kona low storms, making low-interest loans available to individuals and businesses in Maui County and the City and County of Honolulu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

###<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adam Weintraub
Communication Director<\/p>\n\n\n\n

adam.b.weintraub@hawaii.gov
808-620-5417<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022 Release No. 2022-010 HONOLULU\u00a0\u2014 The U.S. President on Tuesday declared a major disaster related to the record-breaking \u2018Kona low\u2019 storms of December 2021, opening a new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"5972,5989,5953,7093,5943,6922","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[224,354,209,351],"tags":[321,305,320],"class_list":["post-6134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2021-severe-weather-flooding-events","category-354","category-disasters","category-news-release","tag-december-2021-severe-storms","tag-kona-low","tag-presidential-disaster-declaration-for-kona-low"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/126"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6134"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15553,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6134\/revisions\/15553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}