“It’s just really heartbreaking. There’s no words that can describe the feeling,” resident Colleen Gundaker said of the destroyed cemetery
Credit: Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Tropical Storm Lala intensified to a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday, Aug. 19, and has caused widespread damage in Hawaii, destroying at least 100 homes and the Nāʻālehu cemetery
- Flooding at the cemetery caused headstones and remains to be displaced, leaving the community mourning and facing a long recovery process
- The storm caused at least three deaths and left thousands without power, with significant damage to roads and bridges across the island
Amid flooding from Hurricane Lala, a cemetery in the the rural town of Nāʻālehu on the south side of Hawaii’s Big Island has sustained significant damage.
On Sunday, Aug. 16, forecasters initially predicted the hurricane would be a Category 1 storm, but it later intensified to Category 3 on Wednesday, Aug. 19, as it hit southern Hawaii, according to the Associated Press. The storm has destroyed at least 100 homes, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said, The New York Times reported.
In addition to destroying homes, the storm has ravaged the island, including disturbing the remains of those buried at Nāʻālehu Cemetery, Hawaii News Now reported, adding that the road to the cemetery was littered with debris, including headstones, a casket, and unearthed remains.
The extent of the damage has not yet been determined, but local residents are sharing that their loved ones’ headstones have been damaged by the storm. Raedyn Louis told Hawaii News Now that his father’s headstone was missing from the cemetery.
“Sad to see everybody’s ʻohana just washed away and everything,” Louis said. “But it is what it is. We couldn’t stop this.”
“You can see caskets, bones, like it’s deep. It’s overhead kine, so it’s deep. You can see everything,” he continued, noting that several of the graves were washed away on the cemetery’s lower side.
Another resident, Colleen Gundaker, also shared that her loved ones’ headstones had been displaced.
“Heartbreaking. It’s just really heartbreaking,” Gundaker said. “There’s no words that can describe the feeling.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Credit: Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle/Getty
Gov. Green issued a statement regarding the damaged cemetery, urging locals to “respect” those who were buried there.
“Please respect those people who were deceased and buried in the cemetery there where there was some dispersal of the ‘iwi kupuna’, ” Green’s statement read, per NBC News. ‘Iwi kūpuna is the Hawaiian term for native Hawaiians’ sacred ancestral skeletal remains, according to the ‘Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
As Hurricane Lala ravages Hawaii, three people have died amid the storm.
A 45-year-old man was killed in a head-on car accident on Saturday, Aug. 15, the Hawai‘i Police Department (HPD) said in a news release. A man in his 60s was discovered by residents on Tuesday, Aug. 18 in the Ka‘ū district. The man was reported missing after authorities conducted a welfare check on Monday, Aug. 17, according to the HPD. A 93-year-old woman, May Doi, was reported missing and found deceased in the Ka‘ū District on Monday, Aug. 16, the HPD said in a news release.
Credit: Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle/Getty
As of Wednesday, Aug. 19, about 19,000 people were without power, a sharp decrease from an estimated 104,000 on Monday, Aug. 17, the Hawaiian Electric utility said, per the AP.
Numerous roads and bridges have been damaged in the storm, including the collapse of two-lane bridge that cut off access to the community of Pahala.
Read the full article here