HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A family on Hawaii Island has been closely watching the forecast as they clean their storm-damaged home in the South Point area.
Hawaii News Now met up with Sharon Mastandrea on Thursday as she sorted family photos that were nearly lost when a torrent of water rushed into her home in Waiohinu early Sunday morning.
“My son comes running up and he says, ’Mom, there’s water all over the place.’ And he had awakened because he heard boulders running, rolling down and crashing into his, the lower part of his house,” Mastandrea said.
The water in the home began to rise quickly. Sharon’s son Jacob Satterwhite used a crowbar to open a door. Once the pressure had been released, mud and water shot out of the home like a dam had broken.
“It was just gushing and kind of a mini–Rainbow Falls,” Mastandrea told us.
The family is safe, but their duplex – known in the community as the ”Hobbit House” – is a wreck.
Just about everything downstairs is wet or covered in mud.
“Oh, we had a freezer that tipped over,” Mastandrea said. “All the meat went out. Some meat is down the mountain, others rotting in the house, so I don’t know. It’s like an archeological dig in there.”
Volunteers have showed up armed with shovels to help remove layers of dirt and rocks.
“I think the mom of Jacob feel really stressed about it,” said a volunteer named Jessica, who knows Mastandrea’s son. “And I really want to for her to feel better, like she’s not alone and nothing to worry. Everything gonna be okay in some time. We remove so much already today. I think we did the biggest part.”
The family is understandably worried about any more wet weather.
Their property is still scarred with riverbeds that are aimed directly at their house.
“Yesterday or last night it started raining and I thought, ‘Oh no,’” Mastandrea said. “It won’t affect me after we’re, you know, back to where we were, but it’s, it’s kind of hard.”
Mastandrea gave up her hurricane insurance about a year ago because of mounting health and hospital bills.
The county has been to the property to assess the damage.
There is hope that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, may be able to help.
For now, the family is grateful for the community’s support.
“They’re people that out of the goodness of their heart, you’re shoveling mud and rock and offering different things,” Mastandrea said. “We really appreciate it, really want to thank them. All of the whole community of Naalehu has been great.”
If you would like to help the family, you can find their GoFundMe page here.
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Publish date : 2024-08-30 14:41:00
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