A man in his 60s was found dead in a pasture off Highway 11 near the 63-mile marker in Ka‘ū, and police say his death appears connected to the extreme weather brought by Hurricane Lala. The Hawai‘i Police Department has not released his identity, and an autopsy has not yet determined the exact cause of death.
According to Maui Now, police were asked to conduct a welfare check on the man shortly after 3:30 p.m. on Monday, August 17. Officers began searching immediately but could not locate him, and it wasn't until the following afternoon that area residents discovered his remains, reporting them to police just before 3 p.m. on Tuesday. The Hawai‘i Police Department has logged the case under report number 26-069840, with the investigation supervised by Lieutenant David Poʻohina and led by Area II Criminal Investigation Section Detective Donovan Kohara, according to the Hawaiʻi Police Department.
Foul play is not suspected at this time, and police say an autopsy will be scheduled to determine the exact cause of death. Anyone with information is asked to contact Kohara at 808-326-4646, extension 3238, or by email at [email protected]. A positive identification of the man remains pending.
A Second Loss in a Small, Battered Community
The man's death marks the second fatality tied to Hurricane Lala in the rural Kaʻū District. The first was May Doi, a 93-year-old former Nāʻālehu schoolteacher who was last seen Friday, August 14, at her home in the 95-1100 block of Maia Street in the Nāʻālehu Town Subdivision. Police records show she lived alone and was reported missing during peak storm conditions before her body was found in a Nāʻālehu field, per the Hawaiʻi Police Department's case logged under report number 26-069367.
Both deaths occurred in small, close-knit southern communities that bore the brunt of the storm's runoff, mudslides, and prolonged power outages, as reported by Honolulu Civil Beat. Governor Josh Green and Mayor Kimo Alameda toured the Kaʻū District on Monday, observing that raging floodwaters and mudslides caused significantly more destruction to Nāʻālehu, Waiʻōhinu, and Pāhala than high winds did. Green previously worked as a rural physician in Kaʻū before entering public office, a detail that has added a personal dimension to his response to the disaster.
A Storm That Never Made Landfall, But Broke Records Anyway
Hurricane Lala's eyewall passed within 30 miles of the Big Island's southern coast without technically making landfall, leaving intact Hawaiʻi Island's 155-year streak without a direct hurricane strike dating back to 1871. Even so, the storm's dirty-side impacts brought torrential rain and wind gusts exceeding 80 mph to the island's southern end. The system dumped up to 43.55 inches of rain at Laupāhoehoe and more than 3 feet across parts of the Big Island within 48 hours, triggering flash floods that swept away roughly 100 homes and damaged six bridges, according to PBS News.
Flood-induced road collapses and mudslides cut off access to towns like Pāhala, which houses the region's only hospital. U.S. Senator Brian Schatz announced Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Transportation had approved $6 million in quick-release Emergency Relief funds to help repair the state's storm-damaged roads.
Recovery Slowed by Communication Breakdowns
The disaster response was complicated by a temporary breakdown of the island's 911 emergency system amid widespread power outages, a failure Hoodline reported struck Hawai‘i Island on Monday morning. Down power lines and blocked roads left tens of thousands of utility customers without electricity while disrupting cell and internet service, hampering both search efforts and communication across the district.
Most public schools and county facilities across Hawaiʻi Island reopened Wednesday, but Nāʻālehu Elementary School remained closed through Thursday due to storm damage and inaccessible roadways. Police have also clarified that a separate, fatal head-on crash on Aloha Boulevard in Ocean View that killed a 45-year-old man on Saturday, August 15, was not weather-related, distinguishing that incident from the storm's toll in Kaʻū. While formal autopsies and positive identifications remain pending for the man found off Highway 11, local authorities have indicated that extreme environmental conditions and flash flooding were the primary drivers behind the losses in Kaʻū.
