Should You Still Come to Kauai after Hurricane Lowell?

Should You Still Come To Kauai After Hurricane Lowell?

Updated as of October 5th, 2026

I am updating this page every week through November 9th. Conditions here change by the day, so check the date at the top before you plan off it.

If you have not booked yet, look at late October or November. If you are already booked this month, come. The island is standing, Lihũʻe Airport is running normally and the cleanup is moving faster than the national coverage suggests. What has changed is that conditions now shift day to day, so the difference between a good day here and a wasted one is knowing what opened this morning.

The sound of chainsaws all over the island has drowned out the chickens crowing in the mornings. If you have been here before, you know exactly what I mean.

I got this storm wrong, so I will say that first. On Friday the fourth I told two guests it would slide west and we would get a wet, windy Monday out of it. Lowell passed about 170 miles southwest of Lihũʻe (LEE-hoo-eh, “cold chill”) on Labor Day as a Category 2, and that was close enough. I have been here since 2007 and I have never seen the ocean do what it did to Lawai Road.

Did Another Storm Hit Kauai After Lowell?

Yes. Hurricane Nolo passed well southwest of the islands in the last week of September and never made landfall here, but it sat close enough, long enough, to soak us. We had a flash flood warning on October 1, Kuhio Highway closed for a few hours near the Hanalei bridge, and the Department of Health put a brown-water advisory back over the whole island.

Nothing on this page got worse because of Nolo. It just got wetter, and it pushed the ocean off the list again for a while. As of this morning there is nothing new out there. The Central Pacific Hurricane Center is showing no tropical cyclones.

What Is A Brown-Water Advisory?

It is a Hawaii Department of Health warning that storm runoff has carried bacteria, chemicals and debris into the ocean. It is not about how the water looks. It applies even where the water has cleared up, and it stays in place until testing comes back clean.

Here is the simpler version I give my guests, and it holds any time you visit Kauai: if you do not see local people in the water, think twice before you go in.

Why The Roads Matter More Here Than Anywhere Else

There is one highway on Kauai and no loop road. Highway 50 runs west from Lihũʻe toward Waimea (why-MAY-ah, “reddish water”), Highway 56 runs north toward Hanalei (hah-nah-LAY, “crescent bay”), and nothing connects them across the Na Pali Coast.

I explain the island to guests as a clock face. Lihũʻe sits at about 5 o’clock, Poʻipū (poy-POO, “crashing waves”), at 6, Waimea town at 7:30, the Kalalau lookout at 10, Hanalei at 12. On a normal day you pick one direction and go.

Right now both directions have problems, and when a road closes here there is no second route. That is why I would not plan this particular month off a website.

My neighbor’s yard on the 11th. The bamboo and the big trees went down together, and this is before any of the cleanup started.

What Is Open And What Is Not

As of October 5, from the county and state recovery updates:

• Power is back on the North Shore. Wainiha and Hāʻena were restored on the 24th. Kōkeʻe is the exception. KIUC still has members up there with no power, and the county says full restoration in Kōkeʻe is not expected for several weeks. That is the one I am watching, because the canyon is not coming back before the power does.
• Only ʻAnini is still under a water conservation notice. Hāʻena-Wainiha was lifted on the 25th.
• Black Pot Beach Park in Hanalei has reopened. Poʻipū, Salt Pond, Hāʻena and Hanamāʻulu beach parks are still closed, along with the Waimea and Kapaʻa pools.
• Wailua Golf Course has all 18 holes open. The driving range is still closed.
• Wailua River State Park is open with limited access. Fern Grotto by private kayak and the hike to Uluwehi Falls are still closed. Every other state park on Kauaʻi is still closed, including Waimea Canyon, Kōkeʻe, Hāʻena, the Nā Pali Coast and Polihale.
• The state reopened canyon bottom access through the Pu’u ka Pele Forest Reserve on October 2, and the highway crews are widening the shoulder on Waimea Canyon Drive between mile 6.7 and mile 7.2 weekdays through October 9. Work on the road is better than no work on the road. The parks and Kokee Road are still closed, so this does not get you to the lookouts.
• Kuhio Highway past Princeville is still local traffic only into Wainiha and Hāʻena.
• Nawiliwili is back on the cruise schedules. The Pride of America came in on the 1st and stayed the night, which is her normal pattern, and she is due again Thursday the 8th through Friday the 9th. Oceania Riviera called on the 4th and is listed again on the 6th, and the Emerald Princess is in on the 7th. Check with your own line before you plan your day, because a ship can still drop a port on short notice.
• The system I was watching last week became Hurricane Nolo. As of Sunday it was a Category 4 about 400 miles south-southwest of Honolulu, moving west, away from us. There are no watches or warnings for any of the islands.

That list will be shorter by the time you read it, and almost all of the change is in the right direction.

The 9th. The roof came off this livestock shed in one piece and landed next to the building. Buildings that were not tied down did not do well.

The Tell I Am Watching

Pride of America overnights in Nawiliwili every Thursday and Friday. When she is back on her regular schedule, the island is back. That is a better signal than any press release, and you can check it yourself.

I called that one too early. The Ruby Princess dropped her September 22 stop here and spent the night in Honolulu instead, and as of the 27th the county still lists Nawiliwili as open to cargo ships only. The tell moved this week. She was back on the 1st, in at eight in the morning and not out until five the next evening, which is her regular overnight and not the short day call that was on the books. She is scheduled again for Thursday the 8th and Friday the 9th. Three other ships are on the calendar in the same week.

What Is Actually Working

Plenty, and this is the part national coverage skips. The Grove Farm farmers market opened on schedule the Saturday after the storm. Kukui Grove Center is back on modified hours. More than 100 volunteers turned out at Lydgate on the 12th to clear Morgan’s Ponds so people could use it again.

We call that kokua. Help given because it is needed, not because anyone asked.

Back open for business. My favorite spot for grinds is “Tony’s Catch,” and his Ahi Tostados break the mouth!

If You Are Already Coming This Month

Come. Just plan the day differently than you would have in August.

My tours are not going to be damage tours. I am not driving anyone past somebody’s wrecked house to photograph it. The Kaua’i Police Department asked people to stop doing exactly that, because the sightseeing traffic is slowing the crews clearing the roads.

What I will do is take you to the parts of this island that are ready and skip the parts that are not, so you do not spend your one day finding out the hard way. That is the honest case for a guide over a rental car right now, and it is not the scenery. It is the information. I drive this island every day, and at eight in the morning I know what was open at seven.

Stripped bare on the 13th. Look closely and a few of these are already pushing new growth. Kauai comes back fast, but not overnight.

What I would not count on yet:

• Anything ocean dependent. The Department of Health put a brown-water advisory back over the entire island on October 3 after Nolo’s rain, and Ocean Safety is advising no swimming and no ocean recreation island-wide. Their guidance is to give it 48 to 72 hours after the rain stops, swim only at lifeguarded beaches, and stay out of anything that looks brown or murky. My own rule still holds. If you do not see local people in the water, think twice before you go in.
• Waimea Canyon and Koke’e, until the roads and state parks reopen.
• Spouting Horn: most county parks reopened the week of the 15th, but the south-shore beach parks like Poʻipū and Salt Pond are still closed. I have not been able to confirm Spouting Horn is open again yet, so I check it every morning.

When I Would Come

Late October for the south and west side. November for the whole island. By December I expect Kauai to look close to itself again, with the obvious exception of the south shore coastline.

If you are moving your trip, move it rather than canceling. The Beach House on Lawai Road took its third hurricane, and this is the first time the building survived. Chef Marshall Blanchard hopes to reopen by Christmas, and that is 170 people’s jobs. Riptides Shave Ice was destroyed and is raising money to come back. Kauai Chickens in Koloa is asking people to just come buy lunch.

Move your trip. Don’t cancel it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Waimea Canyon open right now?
Not as of October 5. Kokee Road is still closed until further notice, with the 24-hour roadblock at the junction, and Waimea Canyon and Kokee State Parks are still closed with no reopening date. KIUC does not expect power back in Kokee for several weeks, so I would not look for the canyon before November. Check the county recovery page the morning you plan to go.

Is my cruise still stopping at Kauai?
As of October 5 the ships are back on the Nawiliwili schedule, starting with the Pride of America on the 1st. Call your cruise line anyway. They decide port by port, and a ship can still skip a stop without much warning.

Is my hotel open?
Call the property directly, not the booking site. Conditions vary block to block, and the front desk knows what the website does not.

Are the Na Pali boat tours running?
Port Allen’s main harbor is open, and the launch ramp at the Port Allen Small Boat Harbor reopened on October 2. The slips and moorings there are still closed, and Kikiaola is still closed. So the west side is working but not whole. Whether your operator is running is up to them. Call the operator, not the booking site.

One Last Thing

Kauai will be fine. We have done this before, and the people who live here are very good at it. The world needs Kauai, and right now Kauai needs the world.

When the canyon road opens back up and the clouds behave, I will be driving it again. If you are moving your trip to later in the year and want to see as much of the island as one day allows, think about one of my tours then.

Aloha and mahalo for your kokua.