the eaves had separated from the posts, and they were flopping in the wind. so we ran downstairs pretty quickly because we knew it was just a matter of time before the whole thing went. we were all upstairs going, this is not looking too great. tony, beth and her husband and three small children quickly run downstairs and huddle together as the house shakes and shifts in the wind. oh, my god! your roof is going! upstairs the structure is weakening. as horrified neighbors look on, tony s roof tears away from his home. oh, my god! whoa! it sounded like an explosion. it just kind of had a little ripple and then it was gone. literally, the sound made you feel like you were in the wizard of oz and you were going to be lifted straight out of this home. in two parts, the roof takes flight. one half decimates tony s tool
62-year-old surfer tony has lived in kawai for almost 40 years, attracted by the picturesque shoreline and plentiful rainforests. great surf, great beaches. it s beautiful. but, in september of 1992, a potential threat to the state of hawaii develops in the pacific ocean fed by warm tropical waters, hurricane iniki swirls and intensifies, a dangerous storm system but one forecasters first predict will bypass kawai. it was gorgeous, sunny, calm. to think that there was going to be some devastating factor in your life within a few hours was kind of pretty far off in the distance. hurricane warning flags are flying over the northernmost hawaiian islands. but unexpectedly, defying all predictions, hurricane iniki takes a 90-degree turn toward the north, completely
did not have roofs to their homes. telephone poles were down everywhere. there was no electricity. many people didn t have water running. like hundreds of others in the area, beth s house is still standing but uninhabitable. the effects of hurricane iniki are devastating but not just to homes and power lines. i lost my job. i moved away from home for five years. i only saw my children on weekends for five years. it wasn t until my job allowed me to transfer back home and i m getting teary about it because it was really very emotional that i could actually say the hurricane was behind me. living through the most powerful hurricane to strike the state of hawaii in recorded history, beth and tony now see things a little differently. we are just a speck or a dot on this planet and the planet rules everything. mother nature can come up at
down and to prepare for the worst. it clouded over and then the wind started. once the wind started, you needed to be inside or in some type of shelter. it was quite the roar. the wind was blowing horizontal, the rain pelting the entire house. tony s brother-in-law films the wrath of hurricane iniki from a house across the street through a crack in the plywood protecting his window, tony monitors the strengthening storm. every time i looked out this little crack i had to see outside, things were flying by that were amazing. metal roofs, corrugated roofs were like flying guillotines. first the asphalt shingles break into pieces and splinter away from tony s roof. then, as the house is pummeled by wind-driven rain and debris, his brother-in-law delivers some troubling news from his position across the street. tony, you re losing your roof!
shed, the other lands nearby in a neighbor s living room, causing extensive damage. the two-story, five-bedroom house is reduced to one compromised level. the walls were breathing. we just didn t know how much longer the downstairs would make it. even the floor structure was now in serious compromise and that at any time the drywall that was the ceiling could cave in on us. for several more hours the two families ride out the storm. the scariest moment during the hurricane was not thinking i was going to make it back to my house. finally, the devastating hurricane passes. tony and his neighbors carefully emerge from their homes to assess the damage. he s going to have it patched up by tomorrow. out of 8,000 roofs, 6,000 were gone. so the majority of the people