LIHUE, Hawaii–The volcanic activity on the Big Island may be getting the headlines, but the bigger disaster recently in the Hawaiian islands has been historic levels of flooding on Kauai that in the days afterward had one CU CEO using a jet ski and even swimming to help members of the community who had been deeply affected.
The CEO, Monica Belz, and other members of the management team at Kauai Government Employees FCU, have shared with CUToday.info four first-person accounts of how the credit union has responded to the flooding, including using laptops and setting up temporary operations on folding tables and chairs in disaster areas and then rushing paperwork back to its offices in order to get assistance to members.
Note to readers: The credit union has set up a GoFundMe account to help disaster victims on Kauai at https://www.gofundme.com/KGEFCUFLOODRELIEF
Below are the first-person accounts of what the experience has been like.
Monica Belz, CEO
'Every Day We Adapted'
“The flood hit the island of Kauai unexpectedly on Saturday April 14, 2018. That evening, 100-year flood records were broken and the low-lying areas in Haena and Hanalei were completely underwater. Homes along rivers were taken over by raging rapids and flash floods, forcing many families to evacuate to the low lying neighborhoods, if they had enough time to do so.
“On Saturday night, families were crowded into homes in the low-lying neighborhoods watching and waiting as the waters continued to rise higher and higher. Roads were inaccessible as they transformed into rivers themselves, yards surrounding houses also turned into raging rivers as far as the eye could see, and the water kept rising. Homes were wrecked as the water raced inside houses leaving no safe place for families to evacuate to except second stories, trees or roof tops if they were available. The thunderstorms were so heavy and dense that helicopters could not make any rescues until Monday. It was the scariest natural disaster the North Shore had seen in a very long time, many say, worse than the infamous Hurricane Iniki in 1992.
“By Monday morning, Mayor Carvalho declared a state of emergency and help was mobilized.
“Being in disaster relief work for the past 15 years across multiple continents, I had never experienced this level of a natural disaster in my own home community. My children had attended Hanalei School the year prior and we had a close community of friends on the North Shore region of the island, all of whom were deeply affected by the flooding.
“I am building a house on the North Shore and my property became inaccessible due to a 40-foot sink hole on the roadway. The flooding hit suddenly, almost out of nowhere, and quickly turned very real, very devastating, and very scary for all of us. Saturday night, as I was receiving fearful calls and texts from friends stuck on the North Shore, I fell to my knees in prayer to ask for protection for everyone’s life. At that point in the severity of the situation and relentless storm, everyone quickly realized lives were very likely to be lost that night.
Areas Are Cut Off
“By Sunday, I had reached out to my community outreach team at KGEFCU - initially inquiring if they knew of anyone who could land a helicopter up north, as I had several friends who were stranded and kept hearing reports of more people stuck in vulnerable areas. Due to the severe thunderstorms, nobody would consider flying a helicopter in that area to attempt a rescue. People were 100% stuck with waters rising to dangerous levels, never seen before. Hanalei town was completely underwater and cut-off, Haena was also cut-off due to flooding and massive landslides. Due to the severe weather, helicopters could not fly or land.
“I heard further reports of local friends taking their boats and jet skis to find people who needed rescued or supplies. Everyone was doing the best they could with whatever was salvageable and available. My friends who still had cell phone power were texting me pictures and status that everyone was alive, but shocked and displaced having lost or evacuated their homes. Some of the stories were very close calls – true life and death situations.
“The KGEFCU leadership team and I planned on meeting first thing Monday morning at 7 a.m. in the office to develop a plan and send a team in to help. As a credit union, we take our mission of people helping people seriously. It’s our purpose and why we work in the industry. Many staff members jumped at the opportunity to help. With this type of devastation on our own island, we knew there would be a lot we could do with our networks and resources to immediately help our island. Because we had several contacts on the ground inside the disaster zones, we were immediately notified of the reality and needs and quickly got to work.
“We found several people with trucks and had everyone meet up to load the trucks with major needs inside the cut-off areas. Food, water, fuel for the jet-skis and boats trying to make rescues and deliver goods, power banks for the people stuck inside without electricity to keep their phones charged and communication lines open. We took the goods to boat docks where goods were being loaded by local contacts and taken into our contacts on the ground. We also took the goods to the emergency airport and had them flown into the cut off areas within hours.
Rallying Together
“Other non-profits, locals, and organizations were rallying together to do the same thing, and we quickly formed partnerships and strong relationships with other like-minded people. Every day was a new challenge, a new set of needs, new information, new developments, and major changes. Every day we adapted, reached out to our networks, and met unmet needs in every corner we uncovered.
“My community outreach team reached out to their contacts at restaurants across the island and received major donations for breakfast, lunch and dinners to deliver to volunteers, first responders, and rescuers. Everyone was running on adrenaline and forgetting to eat and drink if it weren’t for the many donations and volunteers helping to arrange and transport coffee, food and much needed sustenance. The island was working together like we had never seen before.
“We attended many meetings with other key people who were helping to lead the relief efforts. We also attended the neighborhood meetings every chance we could to hear what the true needs on the ground were, and to assess what the upcoming needs would be. We met with some disaster relief experts who explained when FEMA and other financial resource aid would be available—which could take a long time.
“We knew many displaced families who needed funds immediately to clean up their homes so they could move their family back home. This quickly gave us the idea to build a disaster relief loan with immediate funding and deferred payments. We decided to go up to the disaster zones and set up on site locations in the cut-off areas to allow people to apply for the loans. We then drove all the paperwork back to the branches, processed the applications in record time, and brought back debit cards and documents the next day.
“The volume and demand that poured in was overwhelming and impossible to keep up with at our initial turnaround times. Our staff was working non-stop back at the branch to produce stunning turnaround times to help us open accounts, fund loans, and deliver debit cards at an unprecedented pace. True team work at its finest.
“The most affected region on the far north, Haena, is still cut off from access due to highway closure from the massive landslides. During the initial two weeks of the disaster, I loaded up a dry bag with my electronics and personally boated, jet-ski’d, hiked, swam-- whatever it took to get in there to set up the onsite location at the disaster center and help people apply for flood relief loans. The people inside are so grateful, especially when I brought them their debit card the next day to utilize their funds.
“I’ve received loads of hugs and tears and heard story after story of people’s lives turned completely upside down. Everyone is thankful to be alive. KGEFCU is thankful to be able to offer many people hope during their greatest time of need. We’ve made life-time loyal members by truly representing the credit union philosophy of people helping people. We’ve also bonded deeply as a staff team as we served along-side each other to help our island.”
Leah Michaels, Chief Communication Officer
'We Need a Helicopter'
At 4:47 a.m. on Sunday, April l5th, Leah Michaels, chief communication officer with KGEFCU, said she was awakened by banging on her bedroom window followed by what sounded like yelling. Bang. Bang! BANG!
“Help! We need help! We’re under water! HELP!,” someone was calling.
Michaels said she sprung from her bed in the near total darkness and realized the calls for help were coming from her mother, although they were barely audible over the sounds of loud thunder and rain. Michaels ran down the street in pajamas to her family’s home—only to find water in every room, rising well above the door jams, coming in from the back of the house and flowing out the front like a river.
Michaels reported the family quickly turned off the power to prevent the threat of electrocution and started lifting all of the furniture off of the floor in the dark, saving anything they could. As rain continued to fall from the sky, the family spent the rest of the day pushing water with brooms, the entire home remaining under several inches of water–and it was her mother’s birthday.
“As the sun rose, Leah quickly realized she and her family were some of the lucky ones,” KGEFCU related. “She raced to her phone to begin checking if family and friends were OK, if her credit union branch was OK, if her staff was OK.”
Worrisome Messages
Messages from staff and the community flooded her phone, with messages that included:
- “The pasture where I board my horse is entirely gone. The horses are going to fall in the river.”
- “Woke up and my car is gone. It’s just—gone.”
- “We’re calling 911 and they can’t get to us until the rain stops, it’s too dangerous for us to try to leave.”
- “The water has filled our first floor, we’re moving upstairs until help arrives.”
- “I have two babies in diapers. My car is gone. I’m home alone. Send help.”
- “The road is completely wiped out by landslides, we can’t get out. Mud everywhere.”
- “SEND HELP! WE NEED HELP!”
- “North Shore is gone. I’ve never seen anything like this. My house is gone—it’s just gone.”
- “I gotta get my family out. Emergency services can’t get past the landslides. We need a helicopter.”
“We need a helicopter. The roads are gone. My house is gone. I have children in diapers. Water is higher than the first floor.” Michaels noted that as its communication representative, these were not words she ever expected to hear. How the heck does one get a helicopter? But the community was turning to their credit union for help, KGEFCU noted, even as the rain continued.
Monday, April 16th
By Monday, communication between KGEFCU staff about relief efforts were well underway as disaster assessment reports from county, state and federal offices begin coming in. KGEFCU was established in 1947 to primarily serve members and their immediate families working on the Island of Kauai. Today, the credit union serves members from all areas of the island, and these members needed help now more than ever before, Michaels noted.
With the support of the entire KGEFC staff, CEO Monica Belz, COO Sean Kaley, Media Specialist Bonnie Hailer and Michaels launched a full-scale disaster relief effort without waiting any longer.
“With a caravan of personal trucks loaded with gas, food, water and supplies, KGEFCU headed toward the North Shore, knowing that hundreds of people needed to be rescued and hundreds more had just lost everything,” the credit union reported.
But in much of Kauai, there was no potable water, no electricity, no access to many areas and no cellphone reception. Bison, horses, mules, dogs and pigs were running around on the beach and down neighborhood streets, the credit union found, and people were crossing though chest-high mud and debris in effort to get to safety, holding whatever they have left on their heads, their children included.
“You could hear the cracks of homes caving in as the ground was giving way beneath them,” Michaels said in a statement to CUToday.info. “People everywhere were shaking in disbelief, hugging their families, and looking in the direction of where their homes, farms or businesses flourished just 24 hours prior. “
Tuesday, April 17
By Tuesday, April 17th, several hundred people had been rescued by boat and helicopter from the Haena and Wainiha areas of the island.
Flash flood warnings continued for several days, and the areas of Hanalei, Wainiha, Haena remained cut off. Caravans of KGEFCU supplies headed for the Kilauea Neighborhood Center, which looked like a relief camp.
Instead of dropping off supplies, Michaels related that KGEFCU was asked if its representatives could get take goods already collected even further to cutoff areas.
“KGEFCU collected additional loads and continued on. Upon arriving to (surfing legend) Laird Hamilton’s personal property, which was staged with boats and U.S. Army National Guard, the credit union learned the greatest need was gasoline,” Michaels reported. “Those in cutoff areas couldn’t wait much longer for helicopter support and without gasoline, boats couldn’t get continue to get people out to safety, while goods such as clean water and canned food could not be gotten to those who remained.”
Michaels said the credit union responded and delivered dozens of gas cans, water and battery pack chargers to the National Guard and its staff continued on.
On the north side of Kauai, Princeville Airport had been transformed into an operation command center. She explained it delivered supplies, food and water directly to the tarmac for emergency volunteers, first-responders and fire crews to load onto helicopters, which was received within 20 minutes to those in cutoff areas.
CEO Monica Belz boarded various small watercraft and jet skis to assess the damage on the other side of the mudslides. The credit union reported that her team waited anxiously for her report that she was OK, but cell reception was limited at best, shared Michaels.
Wednesday, April 18th
By Wednesday, images and reports from Belz began to come in. “The YMCA Camp Naue in Haena was transformed into a soup kitchen and became one of two center points for receiving donated goods, with a plan to feed several hundred that evening. The second location, Hanalei Colony Resort, became a refuge for the community and began housing first responders, firefighters, police and volunteers,” Michaels said.
Thursday, April 19th
Although assessments by FEMA and other government entities were underway, and each entity was doing its best to respond to the need as quickly as possible, nothing had yet been dispersed to the community on an individual basis, according to Michaels.
“ It was clear the entire community was in it for the long haul,” the credit union reported. “With sufficient boots on the ground, teams mobilized in the community, and KGEFCU began coordinating with several local restaurants to begin a routine delivery of daily meals to first-responder teams who were working around the clock. It was vital to keep the energy of these teams going.”
Working with so many people and groups, Michaels said it determined that a source of funding was going to be necessary to help keep these individuals afloat.
“Although many homes were damaged beyond immediate repair, and businesses temporarily closed, daily life still had to happen for everyone in the area,” Michaels reported. “People—entire communities of members—still needed cash to survive, even if income wasn’t coming in.”
In response, KGEFCU said its staff put their heads together and launched a second round of disaster support services. The first was a Disaster Relief Loan of up to $15,000, with a low interest rate, a five-month deferment, and no prepayment penalty, Michaels said. The second was no interest on credit card purchases for six months, so that members could purchase the disaster supplies they needed without incurring additional costs beyond their purchase costs.
KGEFCU didn’t stop there.
Michaels noted the credit union connected with Hale Halawai 'Ohana O Hanalei, a North Shore non-profit community center. Working from folding tables and laptops, Michaels said it brought its services to the community and created a remote intake center at Hale Halawai for those needing intermediary funds while waiting for government or private funding assistance.
With local post offices closed, community centers converted to soup kitchens, door-to-door access unavailable, and landslides keeping several areas isolated, Michaels said the credit union also took to social media and word-of-mouth to help spread the word that the credit union was here to help.
“Leveraging technology, instant issue debit cards, and team communication, KGEFCU gathered information at the community center, sent it securely to its operating location more than an hour away,” noted Michaels in her report. “Debit cards were loaded with funds and hand-delivered to members who were in need. The community response was overwhelming.”
Bonnie Hailer, Media Specialist
Mahalo nui loa Kaua’i–you should be proud.
According to Hailer, April on Kauai felt like month three of consistent cloudy weather and non-stop rain, and April 15 seemed like just another rainy day. No one was prepared for the toll it would take on our island of Kaua’i, she noted.
“Saturday evening, I laid in my bed catching up on the news on my social media channels,” related Hailer. “The rain was coming down so hard I was feeling thankful I was home safe with my family. As I scrolled through the day’s highlights a photo of a house that was destroyed caught my eye. With a second look I quickly realized that this house was on Kaua’i and the house was taken by a massive landslide on Powerhouse Road, a well-known area in Haena on the North Shore. I started to panic immediately, my vision went blurry; I have friends and family on that road and I was concerned for their safety. When I began to breathe and slowly focus on the context of the photo, I read there were some visitors in the house at the time, but they had gotten to hire ground for the night but there was no way to get out, and no way to get help to them.”
Hailer said she remained awake all night couldn’t sleep as “the thunder was roaring and the sky never darkened from the lightning lashing out.”
“I walked around my house several times during the night shutting windows, calming my young twin daughters who were startled by the loud cracks similar to a bull whip hitting the roof of our Wailua home over and over and over,” said Hailer. “We stared into the sky wondering when it would let up. I felt so devastated for those people on Powerhouse Road and the many others that may be affected, hours into the storm and still Mother Nature was not ready to give. My eyes and heart became so heavy I dozed off in the wee hours of the morning.
'Couldn't Believe My Eyes'
“The first sight of light I was up again checking the damage in my neighborhood. I was beyond grateful to see nothing was destroyed other than surrounding landscape. The rain began to ease up a bit, so my family and I went to check on our horses in a nearby pasture. Driving, I couldn’t believe my eyes! Trees were down everywhere, streams were transformed into massive raging waters, fences were torn apart. I remembered the house on Powerhouse Road and I turned to my social media to see what other people were experiencing. My heart ached there were tons of family and friends all over the island posting photos of their homes completely destroyed, four feet of water consuming their homes where their children were sleeping. Locals, homeowners, renters and visitors were completely stranded on parts of the North Shore with major landslides blocking the only road and on the other side was ocean.”
Hailer added the “Aloha spirit we all love and live by was stronger than ever. Everyone and anyone who had a boat or jet-ski were in full blown rescue mode to get everyone to safety. I kept seeing photos or videos of all the homes destroyed from the South, East and North Shore and I began to pray that there would be no more rain and no more damage.
“The next day our team at Kauai Government Employees FCU brought all of the concerns they have been hearing in the community and formulated plans to help our people,” Hailer continued. “The first reports we received was that the boats and jet-skis were low or empty on fuel and couldn’t run any more trips. Our team bought every gas can we could possibly get our hands on and filled up truck loads, we reached out to our member-owners who weren’t affected by the flood to donate water, food, cleaning and household supplies. We reached out to the local first responders about getting our supplies collected onto the helicopters that were rescuing people.
“We figured as long as something or someone was going in to rescue people out we would try and get as much as we could in to the people who needed food and water,” Hailer continued. “the staff all brought their trucks down to affected areas and began helping people with whatever they needed. Some moms just needed someone to hold their baby, some families needed help organizing and choosing what could be saved and what was too far gone, some people needed everything taken to the dump, people needed food and water, and some people just needed to be told to breathe that everything would be OK. We went on for two weeks like this just assisting anyone we could. “Another portion of our staff had set up at a local community center in Hanalei as an intake center for flood relief loans for flood victims that needed money whether to pay for a temporary rental, bills, schooling. So many people were affected in so many different ways the aftermath of the flood left the North Shore like a ghost town and the few businesses that could open weren’t getting any customers the fear of losing not just their homes but businesses too, is and was very real.
“I am so blown away by this community,” said Hailer. “The amount of people who worked endlessly with no compensation or expectations. This island is so full survivors and will continue to work together to make ends meet. Every single person on this island affected by the flood or not has extended help in one way or another. Mahalo nui loa Kaua’i–you should be proud.
Sean Kaley, COO
It Began As An Ordinary Night
“The night of April 14 was an ordinary night for me and my family. Just some thunder and lightning, and moderate amounts of rainfall. I had no idea that that very night many people on the island were losing their homes, their possessions, their livelihoods, and even access to basic services such as food, water, electricity, etc. By Sunday night, as I was getting ready for a normal work week ahead, (CEO) Monica (Belz) was already mobilizing the credit union to come to these people’s aide.
“On Monday morning as we were coordinating the logistics of delivering basic supplies (food, water, gasoline) to people in need, I still had very little idea of how great the need actually was. It wasn’t until I got to the Princeville airport that it finally started to sink in. The airport was a bustle of activity – first responders working quickly to evacuate people from Haena, family members waiting outside by the road to see if their loved ones would be the next person off of the helicopter. I was amazed by the sheer number of people who came out to help.
“The credit union could easily have ended day-one of the recovery effort satisfied that it had done something to help the community and gone back to normal business activity. But we did not. We continued to assess the changing needs and acted to meet the needs of the community. I went to the store and purchased two water pumps to send on a boat to the isolated areas in Haena. It was a major expense, but when I saw the faces of the people who had been sent to deliver the pumps by boat and the gratitude that they showed, I understood that we were doing something that would have an immediate impact on people’s lives.
“Even at this point; however, I still didn’t fully grasp the extent of the devastation. That changed at my next stop. We were sent to help a family that had their entire house washed away by the floods. We arrived at their property and they were simply in shock. Nearly everything they owned had been destroyed. They had only a few boxes of possessions that they were able to try and salvage.
“The next phase was to leverage the credit union’s core competency to find a way to provide financial assistance to people in need. At this time, very little assistance was available to them. Federal aid, insurance, etc. was still days, if not weeks, away. But these people needed help immediately. We quickly put together a disaster loan promo without much idea of how many people would be able to use it. This turned out to be one of the best things we could do.
How to Deliver Help?
“We also had to figure out how to deliver the product to those in need, as our branch was completely inaccessible to most of them. By hitting the road and bringing the credit union’s services to Hanalei and Haena, we were able to directly touch so many people’s lives. People came to us crying and in shock. They came to us in groups because they didn’t have their own transportation and were forced to share rides. They came to us without any documentation because it had all been washed away. They came to us with no idea what to do next.
“A disaster situation has a way of bringing to the surface a person’s true character. This is true of organizations, as well. Our credit union’s character showed itself to be one that truly cares about the well-being of our members and the community at large. Our staff went out of their way to help those in need. I don’t mean to say that we abandoned our responsibilities, but we did not let policies/procedures/the way we normally do things get in the way of doing what was necessary. We innovated ways to reach people and get them access to the services that they desperately needed.”