SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Families in Hawaii are dealing with the damage left behind by Hurricane Lala, with tens of thousands still without power and more than 100 homes destroyed. Here in San Diego, the Hawaiian community is already preparing to step in and help.
Hurricane Lala ripped around the islands, bringing nearly 3 feet of rain in some places with punishing winds around 80 miles an hour.
"As a tropical island, a lot of the homes there aren't outfitted, you know, for something like this," Alo said.
She wasted no time checking in on her family living in Hawaii.
Alo was the first in her family to be born in the continental U.S. The rest of her family still lives on the Big Island and Oahu. Her immediate family is OK, but some members of her extended family saw their home destroyed and are in need of help.
"Like half of the roof completely came off," Alo said.
As president of the Hawaiian Civic Club of San Diego, Alo has worked with other local nonprofits to organize donation drives during previous natural disasters in Hawaii — including the Lahaina wildfires in 2023 and the historic floods earlier this year. But because Hurricane Lala is still so fresh, she said it's too early to know what the needs are going to be.
"I don't want to sit here on the continent assuming, right, that you need something when you don't, right? So you tell me what you need when you need it, and then I'll mobilize," Alo said.
On Monday, Alo FaceTimed her friend Kanoelani Davis, co-executive director of Ho'oka Mana, a nonprofit headquartered in Molokai — one of the areas hit by some of the heaviest rain — to see how the community has come together.
"Whether it's, uh, food, whether it's just helping them buckle down their house, whether it's them giving somebody a place to sleep," Davis said.
The concept of ohana — meaning family — is central to how both women describe the response. They said it is a lifestyle that extends far beyond Hawaii and one that is only growing stronger.
"You know, the term ohana isn't just like fanfare for us and our communities. It's like we are one big family even if we're over here," Alo said.
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees late Monday approved emergency assistance "for Native Hawaiian beneficiaries and communities impacted by the Lala weather events." The board's action "establishes OHA's Lala Emergency Relief Fund, the first phase of the OHA's broader response," it said in a press release.
Alo says she will share updates on relief plans, and when a donation drive is put into place, those details will be passed along.
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