As Tropical Storm Lala continued to pummel Hawaii, about 200,000 homes and businesses were already without power on Sunday and faced days without electricity because the storm downed the transmission lines that connect power plants to homes and businesses, the state’s primary electric utility said.
The storm damaged 16 transmission lines on the island of Hawaii, known as the Big Island, which took the first hit from the storm, according to the utility, Hawaiian Electric. More than half of the utility’s customers on the island, which is largely rural, were without power on Sunday.
The damaged transmission lines include one that runs for 42 miles on the Big Island. In addition to downed power lines, the storm also caused damage to many of the large structures that carry the transmission lines on the Big Island and Oahu, the utility said.
As the storm approached Oahu early Sunday, tens of thousands of customers began losing power. More than 130,000 customers on Oahu, the chain’s most populous island, lost power by Sunday morning. The utility is assessing how many transmission lines are down on that island.
Still, the biggest challenge for crews working to restore power across the state remained on the Big Island because of widespread flooding and the difficulty that crews would encounter as they traveled rural roads. Damage to some neighborhood power lines could take weeks to repair, the utility said.
“I just hope people can be patient,” said Jim Kelly, a spokesman for Hawaiian Electric who was himself without power on Oahu. “This isn’t going to be a 24-hour turnaround.”
The utility company requested assistance from utility crews on the mainland, but with the storm continuing to pound the state and dangerous flooding making some roadways impassable, even many of Hawaiian Electric’s crews remained on the sidelines.
“Once Tropical Storm Lala has passed and conditions are safe, our crews will begin assessing damage and restoring service as quickly and safely as possible,” Shari Ishikawa, Hawaiian Electric’s incident commander, said in a statement before the storm hit.
The utility was giving priority to restoring electricity to critical services, including hospitals and the state’s water supply. Some of those facilities lack backup power and rely on the power company to keep their operations running.
One concern that Mr. Kelly had raised even before the storm arrived appeared to be proven true: As Lala crossed the Big Island, it toppled the towering Albizia trees that have shallow root systems but can reach 100 feet. The high winds and rain made them vulnerable, and pictures from crews and social media indicated that the trees landed on utility equipment, Mr. Kelly said.
“I think the focus is going to be trying to help Hawaiian Island,” he said.
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