As Tuesday dawned on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, roaring winds quieted into a more familiar breeze, no longer drowning out the pitter-patter of rain. Palm fronds littered the ground and roosters crowed, their calls breaking the quiet. The skies were clearing.
But for most, there was no power.
Hours earlier, the outer bands of Hurricane Lowell pounded the island with heavy rains and howling winds as its core passed just to the west of the state, knocking out electricity for 33,000 customers — nearly 90 percent of the island — and leaving downed trees and debris that shut down roads.
As residents wondered how long the outage would last, officials began assessing the damage. A spokeswoman for Kauai County, which includes the private island of Niihau, said in an email that there had been some injuries but did not provide details. But there was hope that the worst had passed.
Despite the break in the weather, the Kauai Emergency Management Agency urged people to stay off roads to allow emergency crews to clear downed trees and secure utility lines. Schools and government offices were closed on Tuesday in an effort to keep people at home. And the island’s airport in Lihue was closed.
A sign of the storm’s force was evident along a main highway near Lihue on Tuesday morning: Two utility poles had snapped and were dangling near the road. A third pole remained intact but was leaning precariously toward the highway.
Not far away, a line of motorists waited for crews to clear fallen albizia trees from Kaumualii Highway, which links Lihue to the southwestern side of the island.
On Kauai, known as the Garden Island for its rich, tropical rainforests and verdant valleys, a rain gauge at Mount Waialeale in the middle of the island reported more than 17 inches as of early Tuesday.
Island residents had been anticipating the storm in recent days. Gov. Josh Green announced that all state and county offices in Kauai County and on Oahu, including University of Hawaii campuses, would be closed Tuesday because of the coming storm. And the Kauai Marathon, which was to be run on Sunday, was canceled because road closures for the race would affect preparations for the storm, race officials said.
On Monday, hours before the worst of the storm hit, Kealiʻiheleua Makaloa Kaʻiminaʻauao, 47, stood proudly in front of his modest brown home in Koloa, on the south side of Kauai.
That home, where he grew up, weathered two hurricanes: Iniki in 1992 and Iwa in 1982. And he was confident it would survive another, after he put on a new metal roof about a month ago.
“We’re ready,” Mr. Kaʻiminaʻauao said on Monday. The owner of a construction business, he made sure his equipment was gassed up and ready. That included a chain saw to clear downed trees and an excavator to rescue neighbors trapped by floodwaters.
Mr. Kaʻiminaʻauao planned to stay up all night monitoring levels of the nearby Waikomo Stream and checking on nearby residents.
To the north, residents in Hanalei were cut off Monday night by the closure of a bridge because of flooded roads.
“It’s been whipping winds since the sun went down,” Joel Guy, a resident, said in a phone interview. He was checking in on neighbors via text and was hearing of rolling blackouts lasting 30 minutes or longer. Mr. Guy planned to wake up early and assess the damage.
“We’re stranded in Hanalei right now,” he said. But that was exactly where he wanted to be — safe at home.
Judson Jones contributed reporting.
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