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Council adopts resolution to incorporate community lessons from Kona Low storms into disaster planning
Summary
The council unanimously adopted Resolution 26-110 urging city and state administrations to incorporate community disaster‑response lessons from recent Kona Low storms into future plans. Youth commissioners and resilience network members testified in strong support and urged more DEM capacity, stream gauges, and nature‑based mitigation.
The Honolulu City Council on Wednesday adopted Resolution 26‑110, which urges the City and County of Honolulu and the State of Hawaii to incorporate lessons learned from community disaster response during recent Kona Low storms into future disaster preparedness and response plans.
Councilmember Cordero introduced the measure and a long series of community witnesses—many from the Honolulu Youth Commission and community resilience networks—testified in strong support. Youth commission members described grassroots neighborhood rescue and relief efforts during March‑April storms and said those experiences should inform planning. Community resilience representatives urged the city to invest in nature‑based solutions, stream gauges in rural watersheds and training programs that build local capacity.
Councilmember Kiaʻāina noted that the Department of Emergency Management currently had 16 positions and that the budget adds 13, bringing the department to 29 positions, a substantive capacity increase. Members highlighted the need to pair added staff with resources such as stream maintenance crews, drone capabilities for monitoring, resilience hubs, and grants to support community stream teams.
The resolution passed with no objections; council members encouraged community groups to follow up with departmental staff and noted an independent after‑action report is expected in roughly six months.
