For more than a week, 62-year-old Eben Manini was cut off from the outside world on his Puu Opae Ranch property, trapped behind a wall of fallen trees that Hurricane Lowell dropped across the only road leading to his home. The rancher, who lives on Hawaiian homelands mauka of the Waimea and Kekaha area on West Kauai, spent two days trying to clear the debris himself with a chainsaw, straining his back in the process before crews finally broke through.
A Week Trapped With Dwindling Water for 60 Head of Cattle
Manini's ordeal began when Hurricane Lowell sent trees crashing across the roadway to his home, sealing him off from help just as he needed it most. As reported by Hawaii News Now, his overriding worry throughout the isolation was how long his water supply would hold out for his 60 head of cattle. An irrigation ditch that normally supplies water to the herd had sprung leaks that sent water spilling across the roadway instead, compounding the damage from the storm.
Rather than wait, Manini grabbed a chainsaw and spent two days trying to cut his way out on his own. The effort came at a cost: his chainsaw broke during the work, and he injured his back trying to muscle downed trees out of the way. The station's report notes he plans to ease back into chainsaw work only after receiving medical clearance.
Multi-Agency Crews Cut Through 60 to 70 Yards of Downed Trees
Help eventually arrived in the form of a coordinated effort involving the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the Department of Land and Natural Resources, DLNR's Division of Forestry and Wildlife, the Agribusiness Development Corporation and volunteers. Together they cleared an estimated 60 to 70 yards of fallen trees from the road, according to the same account. Manini's son, Joshua Manini, said he heard chainsaws working through the forest Tuesday morning as the crews closed in, and he praised the multi-agency effort to reach his father.
Joshua Manini said some of the eucalyptus trees blocking the road measured about 34 inches in diameter, giving a sense of the scale crews were up against. Once the road opened, it allowed the elder Manini to finally leave the property for medical care, more than a week after the storm first isolated him.
Cattle Still Facing a Water Crisis Even After the Road Cleared
The road being clear does not mean the crisis is over. Bonny Jean Manini said the family's water piping was cracked in at least four places, and the family believes repairs could take closer to a week to complete. Crews have estimated it will take about four days to restore the cattle's water supply, while the herd had only about two to three days of water remaining at last account.
The storm also left downed fencing and other damage scattered across the property, adding to the recovery work ahead for the family. A separate Hawaii News Now report on Kauai's broader hurricane recovery had already flagged that the rancher's cattle were facing a water crisis, underscoring that Manini's fight to keep his herd hydrated has been an ongoing part of the island's storm recovery, not a problem solved the moment the road reopened.
