Hawaiian Electric Power Outage Leaves More Than 120,000 Customers Dark as Kona Storm Hits Hawaii
Hawaiian Electric crews were working overnight into Saturday to restore service across Oahu, Maui County and Hawaii Island after a powerful Kona storm knocked out electricity to more than 120,000 customers, with officials warning that some neighborhoods could remain without power through the night and longer.
The utility said widespread damage from heavy rain, severe thunderstorms and strong winds hit parts of the island chain on Friday, forcing a large emergency response and raising concerns about travel hazards, downed lines and prolonged outages in hard-hit areas. East Honolulu, windward Oahu and parts of Maui County were among the places facing the biggest disruptions.
Oahu took the hardest hit as transmission problems spread outages
The largest concentration of outages was on Oahu, where Hawaiian Electric said storm damage temporarily took out a transmission line serving much of windward Oahu, East Honolulu and parts of Waikiki.
By Friday evening in Hawaii, the company said it had restored that major line and brought power back to about 29,000 customers on Oahu. Even with that progress, thousands of homes and businesses remained offline across the island as crews continued to deal with damaged equipment, hazardous conditions and pockets of local outages.
Earlier in the day, the utility had warned customers in Hawaii Kai and parts of East Honolulu to prepare for outages that could last overnight or longer, reflecting the scale of the storm’s impact and the difficulty of restoring service while wind and rain were still moving across the state.
Outage totals climbed above 120,000 as the storm intensified
Hawaiian Electric said about 121,020 customers across Oahu, Maui County and Hawaii Island were without power as of 10 p.m. ET on Friday. That followed an earlier update showing roughly 113,800 customers out on Oahu and 15,600 in parts of Maui County as conditions worsened.
Later Friday night in Hawaii, the company said the outage count across Oahu, Maui County and Hawaii Island had reached about 132,000 customers before restoration work on the Oahu transmission line brought some of those numbers down.
The company has cautioned that outage figures can change quickly during a major weather event, especially when multiple trouble spots emerge at once and map updates lag behind field conditions.
Maui County and Hawaii Island also faced extended restoration work
The outage emergency was not limited to Oahu. Hawaiian Electric said customers in Maui County and on Hawaii Island also lost service as the Kona storm moved through the islands.
Crews and contractors were deployed across the service territory, but the utility said restoration work would depend on weather, road access and the ability to safely reach damaged lines and equipment. That means some customers outside the largest outage zones could still face long waits if crews need to prioritize backbone infrastructure before neighborhood-level repairs.
The utility has also flagged the possibility of delayed map updates during severe weather, a sign that some customers may not immediately see their outage reflected online even while restoration crews are already responding.
Safety concerns widened beyond homes and businesses
The storm-related outages also affected public infrastructure. Hawaiian Electric said an extended outage was impacting the lights in Wilson Tunnel on the Likelike Highway, prompting warnings for motorists to drive with extra caution.
That added to broader safety concerns as the storm brought standing water, traffic hazards and the risk of downed power lines. The utility urged residents to stay away from fallen wires and flooded areas, warning that standing water can hide electrical danger.
Those risks often slow restoration during major storms because crews must first secure damaged areas before making repairs. In practice, that can delay progress even after the worst weather begins to ease.
What customers should expect next
Hawaiian Electric’s latest messaging suggests this is likely to remain a restoration story into Saturday rather than a short-lived outage event. The utility has repeatedly told customers to remain prepared for extended outages, particularly in storm-damaged sections of Oahu and in affected parts of Maui County and Hawaii Island.
For customers, the near-term picture is straightforward but difficult: restoration will continue as conditions allow, outage numbers may shift, and neighborhoods tied to major line damage or access problems may wait longer than others.
The next critical phase will be whether crews can keep restoring main transmission and distribution lines without new storm damage creating additional setbacks. Until then, Hawaiian Electric’s response remains focused on stabilizing the grid, restoring the largest outage clusters first and warning residents that some areas may still be in the dark well into Saturday.
