Search-and-rescue teams from the National Guard are fanning out across Hawaii, where a powerful storm has destroyed hundreds of homes and buried roads in red volcanic mud.
Hawaii’s Governor Josh Green declared on Saturday that he was mobilizing 195 soldiers and airmen to aid communities. Catastrophic winds and flash flooding have forced thousands in the archipelago to evacuate and prompted over 200 rescues, according to authorities.
The islands of Oahu and Maui have borne the brunt of the deluge, with some communities inundated by up to 4 feet of rain from the back-to-back storms that began late last week. Green described the floods as the worst the state has seen in more than two decades, with rising waters ravaging airports, schools and a hospital. The extreme conditions have left some neighborhoods completely isolated.
“While the immediate threat from the storm has passed, recovery efforts continue across the islands as state and county crews assess damage, clear debris and restore impacted infrastructure,” the governor’s office asserted in a press release.
Early estimates place losses well above $1 billion.
Maj. Gen. Stephen Logan, the state’s adjutant general, said that the Hawaii National Guard has personnel stationed in every county emergency operations center to assist with the storm’s aftermath.
Logan added that the Guard has 21 High Water Vehicle Teams positioned on multiple islands, each capable of traversing floodwaters of up to 3 feet in depth.
Units trained in chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives were deployed as part of the response team, as well as three Black Hawk helicopters that have been used for dozens of search-and-rescue operations.
The Coast Guard and Navy also joined the effort, carrying out aerial rescues to lift stranded residents to safety over the past several days.
To bolster recovery efforts, Green said on Monday that he is coordinating with newly sworn-in Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin — who overseas the Federal Emergency Management Agency — to secure additional resources. The governor claimed to have received assurances about a presidential emergency disaster declaration and a federal cost share of up to 90%.
A White House official told Military Times in a statement Tuesday that the administration had been “closely tracking the flood situation affecting Hawaii.”
Laying out the range of federal assistance from FEMA, the Coast Guard, Navy and the National Park Service, the official added: “The Trump administration remains committed to empowering and working with State and local governments to invest in their own resilience before disaster strikes, ensuring American tax dollars are used appropriately to make response less urgent and recovery less prolonged.”
Tanya Noury is a reporter for Military Times and Defense News, with coverage focusing on the White House and Pentagon.