Makawao: Lala’s fierce winds leave downed trees, utility lines and other damage in their wake

As Hurricane Lala’s strong winds shook his rectory Saturday night at St. Joseph Catholic Church, the Rev. Edison Pamintuan worried that his roof might blow away.

With prayers, he made it safely through the night and celebrated 7 a.m. Sunday Mass. “I didn’t know we had major damage here,” he said. “In our residence, it’s OK.”

It wasn’t until later Sunday morning—after the hurricane had been downgraded to a tropical storm—that one of his parishioners gave him astonishing news: the prior night’s winds had uprooted a 60- to 80-foot-tall eucalyptus tree, crashing it into an old two-story convent tucked into the southwest side of the church property.

“She sent me pictures,” he said, recalling the damage that also flooded much of the 50-plus-year-old building.

In the uproar of the strong winds, no one heard the tree fall onto the building. The tree probably fell sometime Saturday night or early Sunday morning, Pamintuan said.

A portion of the building’s roof collapsed under the tree’s weight, leaving a back-corner room without a window and exposed to the elements.

In the first-floor kitchen, water poured through a gap in the ceiling, soaking the floor and ground-level cabinet areas. Water also damaged other ground-floor rooms. Aside from the tree-impacted room upstairs, flooding was limited on the second floor.

While the church is insured, Father Pamintuan doubted it would cover the cost of repairs, which had not been fully determined as of early Monday afternoon.

“Right now we don’t have a damage estimate, but it’s a major one,” he said.

The building now has a chapel, and it serves as a church office, as bedrooms for visitors and meeting space for small group gatherings, he said.

A GoFundMe campaign

With the full cost of repairs still unknown, Stacey Alapai, a Makawao resident whose family has attended St. Joseph’s for generations, set up a GoFundMe campaign on the church’s behalf. As of late Monday afternoon, the campaign had raised $2,565 of a $14,000 goal from 26 donors. Alapai said she plans to add the church as a formal beneficiary on the fundraiser so it can receive the funds directly.

“This has been especially heartbreaking because the convent had been undergoing renovations for nuns to move in soon, and now those plans are uncertain while the full extent of the damage is still being assessed,” Alapai said.

She added that the storm also damaged the church’s thrift shop and St. Joseph’s Early Learning Center.

“Right now, support for St. Joseph’s Catholic Church will help as the damage is evaluated and as repairs and replacements begin for what was lost in the storm,” Alapai said. “This church is an important piece of Makawao’s history, and its thrift shop serves the community by receiving donated goods and helping get them to people in need. Many items are even given away for free to those who need them most.”

The GoFundMe campaign can be found at gofundme.com/f/Stjosephs-Makawao.

Other storm damage

The storm left other damage in Makawao.

Across from St. Joseph Church’s cemetery, winds sheared off a portion of the roof of a plantation-style residence, now used as a Makawao field office by the Department of Water Supply. Inside, water damage was visible in rooms closest to Makawao Avenue.

On Piʻiholo Road, Lala’s winds grounded several hundred feet of overhead utility lines, including near the intersection of Piʻiholo and Waiahiwi roads. On Ehu Road, large tree stumps remained from large fallen trees.

St. Joseph Church history

St. Joseph Church has roots closely tied to Maui’s Portuguese immigrants, mostly from the Atlantic archipelago islands of the Azores and Madeira. The immigrants began coming to the Hawaiian islands from 1878 to 1899. Workers completed the present-day, Gothic-style church in 1911, except for its bell tower. The present tower was built in 1927 financed by the family of Fr. James Beynes. The church’s interior is graced with large stained-glass windows.

Officials announced Monday that state, county and public schools would reopen Tuesday, with the possible exception of some schools with storm-related damage.