Hawaii Flooding Damages Farms Across Oahu North Shore

Back-to-back storms in March brought Hawaii's worst flooding in two decades to Oahu's North Shore, damaging small farms that supply local markets. The reddish-brown mud that covered Bok Kongphan's farm has hardened in the sun. Irrigation tubes lie tangled where his lemongrass, cucumber, and okra once grew.

His niece, Jeni Balanay, lost choy sum, bitter melon, and tomato crops. The leaves of her recently planted banana, coconut, and mango trees have turned yellow.

Data collected by farming advocates show more than 600 of Hawaii's 6,500 farms reported nearly $40 million in damage to crops, livestock, and machinery. Brian Miyamoto, executive director of the Hawaii Farm Bureau, said the bureau estimates the full extent reaches $50 million across close to 2,000 farms.

Miyamoto said entire farms were wiped out just days or weeks before harvest. Officials are urging farmers not to abandon operations, noting that local agriculture supports the isolated state.

For most of the late 19th and 20th centuries, large plantations grew sugarcane and pineapple for export. Smaller, diversified farms replaced them after the 1990s. The COVID-19 pandemic increased focus on local food supply. Hawaii farms are often too small to qualify for crop insurance. U.S. Department of Agriculture. Many farmers are immigrants who were already operating on thin margins.

Available assistance includes federal disaster relief, one-time $1,500 emergency grants, state loans, and a charitable fund that raised about $850,000. Kongphan, an immigrant from Thailand, is seeking government aid to level flood-deposited soil on his 5-acre leased plot.

Balanay recalled floodwaters rising to her waist in seconds. She is unsure whether she will continue farming. Farmer Kula Uliʻi said her family is bringing roughly one-quarter of normal output to markets and lost taro crops after submersion in flood contaminants.

State agriculture official Sharon Hurd said officials are testing soil safety and providing seeds and plant starts. She said the farms need to resume operations.