MATT HAMPTON | Sports Editor
A hurricane that crashed into Hawaii last week affected four Lindenwood rugby players from the islands, causing some to worry about the safety of their family members.
Hurricane Lane caused disastrous floods in part of the state but then dissipated into a tropical storm before turning away from the islands, sparing them from a direct hit.
Aisina Farley, a junior on Lindenwood’s women’s rugby team, was still in her home town on the island of Oahu as her neighbors braced for the hurricane. She described going to the beach last week when the weather was hot and sunny, and seeing people filling up sandbags and boarding up windows.
Nika Paogofie-Buyten, a junior from Kona on the Big Island said that while the other side of the island was heavily hit, the volcanic mountains in the island’s interior shielded her town from heavy rain.
Though Lane was the second wettest storm to hit the U.S. since 1950, according to the National Weather Service, most of the islands only got a few inches of rain.
Farley said Hawaii was “blessed” Lane wasn’t much worse.
Tui Roberts, Farley’s teammate and high school friend, said some Hawaiians were “playing in the rain and making Slip ‘N Slides.”
Farley said the hurricane created a rush for food, water, gas and other supplies, which emptied shelves in most stores within two days. Not only did this make it difficult for her to prepare to leave for school, but she said the shortages underscored the importance of preparedness in a place that can be so vulnerable to natural disasters.
“If something really bad does happen, we won’t last really long in our house, because we have a family of 10 people living in our house, and we didn’t really have much in storage,” she said.
The storm also fanned brush fires on some islands, which forced 600 to evacuate on Maui, according to USA Today.
Kanani Uluave, who went to high school with Roberts and Farley, said her parents were at Lindenwood with her last Wednesday, worrying about her three sisters at home by themselves.
“Our neighbors were calling my parents up like, ‘What do you need? We’ll get it for you. What do you need to do with the house?'” she said.
Her parents flew back home before Lane hit, but Uluave, also on the rugby team, said her neighbors demonstrated generosity characteristic of Hawaiian culture.
“Everyone’s just there for each other no matter what,” Farley said. “Our whole community is there for each other, like if you need help we will be there.”
Though no storm-related deaths have been reported, Lane could be the most expensive storm in Hawaiian history and in this hurricane season overall.
