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Lights out — now what?

By Catherine Toth Fox • May 3, 2011 • #CatTravels, The Daily Dish

Water spouts off Kakaako. Hail on Maui. Flooding on Oahu. People trapped in elevators. Thunderstorms everywhere.

That was some eventful evening last night, and forecasters say more severe weather is to come.


But the worst part about last night’s storm was the power outage. More than 60,000 customers — Kailua, Manoa, East Honolulu — were out of power for a good portion of the night.

And we had no idea what to do.

According to folks on Twitter — most via smartphones since Internet connections were down — some were stuck in traffic, some stayed at work and others — like me — pondered what to eat.

So instead of sitting in our darkened home, Derek and I grabbed the dogs and decided to chase thunderstorms.

We first went to Kuliouou, where the heavy clouds were too thick to see bolts. So we drove west, ending at Diamond Head lookout, where I snapped these shots. (To the right, the top photo was before, the second was after a large lightning episode.)

It was nothing I had ever seen before, the sky bursting with eye-straining light. Who needed power when you had a pyrotechnic show like this?

What was your Monday night like?

floodinghailHawaiilightningOahusevere weatherthunderthunderstormTothwater spouts
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Barely surviving power outages
So far, blue skies

About the Author

Catherine Toth Fox

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7 Comments

  • Reply matt May 3, 2011 at 7:44 pm

    lighting shows are sweet. you ever have the urge to stick a metal rod in the sand at the beach ala Sweet Home Alabama and see if you can get some cool glass figures? I always wanted to try that.

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 3, 2011 at 8:12 pm

      Is that really true…? I should Google that.

      • Reply matt May 4, 2011 at 4:55 am

        no idea if it really works or not. be cool to try, though

  • Reply M May 3, 2011 at 7:56 pm

    Hello Cat, last night lighting was awesome!

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 3, 2011 at 8:12 pm

      Wasn’t it? If I had a bento with me, it would be dinner and a show!

      • Reply matt May 4, 2011 at 2:57 am

        make sure the bento was in a plastic or cardboard container and not a metal foil one, or your seats to the show might end up closer than front row.

  • Reply Jon May 4, 2011 at 10:41 am

    Heh, I was at UH Manoa waiting for my grad class at 6pm to start when everything went kaput around 5:15. Then just as we found out class was canceled at 6, the rain got crazy. It was an…experience…trying to get out of Manoa when all the traffic lights were down plus barely being able to see due to the rain.

    It actually took about 10 minutes to get from Maile Way end of University Avenue to the freeway on-ramp, where i quickly decided to veer off and take my chances heading along Wilder. Fortunately, about 35 minutes later when I got to my apartment in Downtown my power was on, and remained on.

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About Me

About Me
Born and raised on O‘ahu, Hawaiʻi, Catherine Toth Fox has been chronicling her adventures in her blog, The Cat Dish, for more than a decade. She worked as a newspaper reporter in Hawai‘i for 10 years and continues to freelance—in between teaching journalism, hitting the surf and eating everything in sight—for national and local print and online publications. She’s currently the editor of HAWAIʻI Magazine.

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