Power outages tied to Hurricane Nolo began across parts of Hawaii on September 25, and a wildfire on Maui the next day made matters worse. Now the state has opened a short window for SNAP households in Hawaii County, Maui County and one Oahu ZIP code, 96731 in Kahuku, to report the food they lost. Reports are accepted through October 15, 2026, and the state will replace the value of the destroyed food, up to the household’s monthly benefit. The usual federal deadline would have been 10 days.
SNAP is the federal food assistance program, and Hawaii’s Department of Human Services runs it in the islands. The department announced the replacement option on October 2, in a release that names Governor Josh Green, Director Joseph Campos II and Deputy Directors Trista Speer and Lori-Lei Aponte. Replacement is aimed at one specific loss: food a household bought with SNAP benefits that was destroyed in the disaster…