Ever since the northwest shore of Kauai was hit with record rainfall and damaging floods on the weekend of April 14-15, Hanalei Colony Resort has been largely cut off from the rest of the island.
After recent statements from the Department of Transportation and mayor's office indicating work on the major roadway leang to the area will continue through October, the resort announced that it has pushed back its reopening date indefinitely and is canceling and refunding all reservations through Oct. 31.
"When the flood first happened we had a little information, and I just picked July 1 as a reopening date because it sounded good," general manager Laura Richards said. "Eventually we moved it back and said through the end of July, but now we have some concrete information and we've had to readjust. We hope the works gets done and by the fall we'll have our doors open again."
While access to the town of Hanalei and the picturesque bay of the same name reopened shortly after the floods, Kuhio Highway past Hanalei Bay is still closed to everyone but residents and those working on the repair effort. The roadway was damaged by multiple landslides, and the residents of Haena and Wainiha have to follow a strict schedule for leaving and entering the areas so construction crews can operate.
Hanalei Colony Resort sits to the west of Wainiha Bay, where access is still limited. In the meantime the property has become a community hub. Shortly after the floods hit, the property became one of the distribution centers for the area, a point where stranded residents could find food, water and medical aid.
After all of the guests were evacuated from the 52-suite resort, the staff quickly turned to helping the community. Hanalei Colony Resort at various times housed a medical team, veterinary services, food and water distribution and postal services. Until the end of May, when school let out, classes for 48 students were held at the resort, and the high school seniors held their graduation at the resort restaurant, Opakapaka Bar and Grill. For a time, the restaurant was also serving free breakfast and dinner with supplies provided by local food banks.
"As we were turning into this community hub, it was really frantic for a couple of days," Richards said. "For those of us that stayed at the resort we just said to ourselves, 'This is what our job is now. We have a new job.' I felt very happy that the resort was still standing and could bring in all these other entities and service to the community. Between the resort, restaurant and spa we're the only place in the area like it. This is a residential community and we are grandfathered in. It was great to serve the community."
Currently, they are housing members of the National Guard, who man the car checkpoints for Kuhio Highway, and a team from Samaritan's Purse, a humanitarian organization helping with disaster relief. Two families displaced by the flood are also staying at the resort while repairs are being done on their homes. In coming weeks a building permit inspector will be on property to grant emergency permits to residents planning repairs, and the resort plans to work with election services to set up a polling place.
Richards is also putting together a schedule of summer entertainment for the community, including live music and outdoor movie nights.
Richards and her team have shipped all of the abandoned luggage back to guests who were evacuated, but a few rental cars still remain on property. The resort has kept 10 employees on staff, who are helping with cancellations, maintenance and other odd jobs, but had to let go of roughly 30 employees while the resort is closed. Richards said many of them are on unemployment and she hopes to hire them back as soon as possible.
The resort is in need of more than $1 million in repairs, Richards said, including fixes to water lines, WiFi service, a pedestrian walkway and the property's laundry and maintenance rooms. They hope to start work in the next few weeks and construction should last three to four months.
Richards hopes that work can wrap up by the time the county is ready to reopen Kuhio Highway, "but we're really at the mercy of the roads," she said.
She is anxious to get the resort open and guests in the rooms once again, but has also taken some moments to enjoy the freedom limited vehicle access to the highly touristed area provides.
"This community is strong. It's a resilient community, and we'll all come together and bring things back," said Richards, who has worked at the resort for 30 years. "One thing that's wonderful is this area was oversaturated with too many cars, and it was taxing our roads and community. Now, I'm riding my bike because it's safe again. We really hope that when the road reopens we can have a shuttle service ready to go at the same time to tackle the traffic problems. It's ambitious, but I think we can get it done."