Kauai Real Estate Update- What Sold, was Just Listed and what went Under Contract last week: Kauai Real Estate Update September 7 to 13, 2026
Poipu Beach Fee Simple Real Estate- For all the fee simple real estate activity since January 1, 2026 click here: Poipu Beach Fee Simple Current Market Analysis
For the Kiahuna Plantation click here: Kiahuna Plantation Current Market Analysis
Our Kauai Mayor, Derek Kawakami, said it best in a recent Instagram post: “…..show a little Aloha. We’ve been through difficult times before and we’ve always shown that when Kauai comes together, we can get through them together.”
On September 8, Hurricane Lowell passed by Kauai in the early morning hours. A week later, here’s where things stand.
📵 With no cell phone coverage, power, internet or cable, we all found ourselves in a bubble of not knowing what happened in other parts of the island. I physically saw what happened here in Poipu, but for quite a while didn’t know about the rest of the island.
🌀 This storm was not Iniki, which was a direct hit. Much of the property damage we’ve seen was ocean related. For the most part, the wind and rain played a much smaller role, which was not the case with Iniki in 1992.
💡 Over 92% of the island didn’t have electricity, and the wind brought down an unknown number of power lines. That was on Tuesday. By Friday, 70% of the island had power back, which is a testament to how prepared Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) was and how quickly crews went to work and didn't stop working.
🏪 Costco, Home Depot, banks, grocery stores, most restaurants, shops, gas stations, etc. are just fine, with the exception of power outages and the fallout from that. Roads need to be cleared in places, but our roads and bridges are there, as are our airport and hospitals.
🚧 For a short time, we are all being asked to restrict our driving to allow crews to work on roads and power lines. One-lane traffic is causing delays. Nawiliwili and Port Allen have reopened, so barges are starting to come back in which means supplies getting replenished. We have a brown water advisory and are being asked to stay out of the ocean.
🔥 To complicate things further, last Friday the DMV, which is in the Lihue Civic Center, caught fire and the technology infrastructure supporting all of the departments there was destroyed. Those departments include Planning, Property Tax, the Building and Engineering divisions, Sewer, the Housing Agency and about 10 others. Some of those departments are needed in our recovery efforts, so this is slowing things down as well.
🛠️ Now, a week later, it appears things should be looking a lot better by the end of this month. One reason is that Kauai got in front of this as best it possibly could. Extra crews were brought in, and people have been working seven days a week—yes, even government workers!
🌊 There are oceanfront restaurants, condominium complexes and homes that are not fine and have a much longer recovery timeline. We won’t know how long for a while.
❤️ How you can help: Know that there are questions you have that people simply don’t have answers to yet—and might not for a while. Know that the person you talk to on the phone showed up to work and may have left a home with no power or possibly some damage of their own. The Board member, Front Desk person, General Manager or Association person you are talking to might not have an immediate answer for you. That doesn’t mean they don’t care or aren’t working to find one. In many cases, they’re waiting for answers too.
❤️ ❤️ This will pass, but how you treat people right now will be remembered. Don’t let stress and fear do long-term damage to relationships. You need these people, and they need you too.
🛶 We are all in the same canoe.
That is the best way you can help right now—along with watching out for scams, which are already happening.
