Hawaiian Electric Co. cut power to parts of Pukalani during strong, dry winds related to Hurricane Nolo to reduce the chance of ignitions; thousands across Maui also remained without electricity from storm-related damage.
HECO activated a PSPS in Pukalani, affecting about 485 customers, to reduce wildfire risk amid strong winds and dry conditions.
Officials urged residents to prepare for extended outages, use battery or hand-crank radios if connectivity fails, and seek emergency assistance at designated locations if 911 is unreachable.
By midafternoon reporting, about 11,350 customers were without power across West Maui, Hā'ikū and Upcountry. The majority of West Maui outages — roughly 10,000 customers — were the result of storm-related damage and not the Pukalani PSPS. Smaller outages were also reported on Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi island, with crews working toward restorations.
HECO cited high winds, dry vegetation, and elevated wildfire risk as the reasons for proactively cutting power in exposed areas. Jim Alberts, HECO's Executive Incident Commander, said the PSPS was activated as a last line of defense to protect lives and reduce wildfire chances. The company stressed it will restore service as soon as conditions allow safe work.
HECO said some customers may see power restored as early as noon Monday, but that timeline depends on safe access for crews and aerial inspections. The company cautioned it may still implement additional PSPS actions in other communities if wildfire exposure remains high.
Maui County and HECO urged residents to prepare for prolonged or intermittent outages and possible loss of cellular or internet service. Recommendations included:
Reporting outages and staying informed HECO provided outage reporting numbers and online options for Maui and other islands. The company also reminded customers that additional proactive shutoffs remain a possibility in areas with high wildfire exposure, and urged residents to activate their emergency plans.
The Pukalani shutoff was a preventive safety action taken during a period of high winds and dry conditions connected to Hurricane Nolo. Thousands across Maui were still working through storm-related outages that required on-the-ground and aerial assessments before full restorations could proceed. Residents were advised to rely on battery radios, local charging hubs and designated emergency locations if communications were disrupted.
Hawaiian Electric issued a Public Safety Power Shutoff watch due to hurricane-driven wildfire risks while approximately 12,370 customers on Maui remain without electricity.
About 11,350 customers remain without power in West Maui, Haʻikū and Upcountry. The majority of the outages are in West Maui with about 10,000 impacted customers. These outages were not a PSPS. An additional 485 customers in the Pukalani area are affected by a PSPS outage.
As part of ongoing efforts to harden the electrical grid and reduce wildfire risk on Molokaʻi, Hawaiian Electric crews will begin its first targeted area of replacing existing copper power lines with new aluminum conductors along East Kamehameha V Highway between Onioni Drive and ʻUalapuʻe from Saturday, Oct. 3 thro
As part of its ongoing wildfire safety strategy to harden the transmission lines serving West Maui, Hawaiian Electric contractors will conduct utility pole surveys in Lahaina from Sept. 28 through Oct. 7, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
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