HONOLULU (KHON2) — Many businesses and thousands of residents spent hours without electricity. One restaurant manager said they were forced to close early, while four schools did not open Monday due to impacts from the long-lasting power outage.
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In the middle of Sunday lunch, one of the busiest times for Heavenly Island Lifestyle in Hawaii Kai, the restaurant’s manager Karie Pastor said the power was abruptly shut off.
Pastor said, “It was nice and busy and then all of a sudden gone.”
The restaurant, neighboring shops and residents were left in the dark.
“We just made sure that all of the refrigerators and freezers remained closed and so that we can save whatever was in there,” said Pastor. “We cleaned up what we could and then we had to close for business.”
The restaurant missed out on an additional $5,000 to $7,000 of sales for the day.
Hawaii Kai resident Mandana Clarke was surprised at how long it took to regain power. Clarke said, “We thought it was going to be a short one again but it wasn’t.”