(BIVN) – With fire weather conditions improved, Hawaiian Electric says it has ended its Public Safety Power Shutoff watch for areas in Hawaiʻi that are at risk for wildfire.
The National Weather Service reported on Monday that fire weather conditions will improve statewide over the next couple days as winds weaken and humidity levels rise.
From the Hawaiian Electric company on Monday afternoon:
For public safety, the company initiated its PSPS program and shut off power for a few hours yesterday in Pukalani, Maui, due to low humidity and high winds. Those customers had electricity restored yesterday at 4:30 p.m. No safety incidents were reported.
At 11:30 a.m. today, power restoration began for West Maui customers. Service is restored in phases rather than all at once to ensure the system can be safely returned to operation. Crews have since restored service to nearly all 10,000 customers in West Maui after completing inspections and repairs to the transmission line serving the area. Restoration efforts were hampered by high winds in excess of 60 mph near the ridge area above Pāpalaua Wayside Park which prevented helicopter inspections and repairs. This outage was not a PSPS.
All major power outages caused by Hurricane Nolo storm damage have been restored, the utility says.
Hurricane Nolo is now a category four hurricane with winds are near 145 mph. Nolo is located 415 miles west southwest of Oʻahu and moving away from the Main Hawaiian Islands to the northwest at 12 mph. A Hurricane Warning is in effect for the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument from Nihoa to French Frigate Shoals.
