Due to the high winds from Hurricane Lane that damaged electrical equipment, Maui Electric is asking about 4,800 customers in the West Maui area currently without power to prepare for an extended outage through Saturday, Aug. 25. Downed poles and damaged electrical wires must be repaired in order to restore power, and there is currently restricted access to some of these locations due to the fire. In the interest of safety, Maui Police Department will increase patrol units in the affected West Maui areas this evening.

Crews restored power to critical infrastructure in the area, including the Lahaina Fire Station, Lahaina Police Station, and Lahaina Civic Center, which is serving as an emergency Red Cross shelter.

Maui Electric crews are continuing restoration efforts through the night in various areas of West Maui to repair about 30 broken, cracked or downed poles from Lahaina town to Kaanapali. Repairs also need to be made to two of the three transmission lines feeding West Maui. The remaining transmission line – running on steel poles – feeding West Maui remains in service with enough capacity to serve the area.

On Molokai, repair crews were able to restore power to a majority of customers, with crews currently working to restore six remaining customers.

Should customers experience any outages or encounter downed power lines, report them to Maui Electric’s trouble line at 871-7777 on Maui or toll-free for Lanai or Molokai at 1-877-871-8461.

The public can sign up for outage and restoration updates at www.mauielectric.com or follow Maui Electric on Twitter @mauielectric; Facebook – The Hawaiian Electric Companies; and Instagram – The Hawaiian Electric Companies with hashtags #MauiOutage, #MolokaiOutage, #LanaiOutage.