"Starting to feel kinda civilized," Alberto Velazquez told Hawaii's KITV4. "We've been spending the last couple of days clearing the tree that fell on our backyard," he said.
This is basically Hawaii's big island situation in the aftermath of Iselle. Clean up is underway even as some of its residents are still in awe of the havoc brought by the tropical storm.
In its online news portal, KITV4 reported how a family of three was saved while spending the night in an area hit hard by the storm. Several trees fell on their home leaving massive damage. The only thing that saved them, the local media added, was opting to sleep "in a back room furthest away from the damage."
The family was, nevertheless, fortunate, as no one was hurt despite trees landing on their roof, doing massive damage to the structure.
"We are living off the grid now. Power remains to be our major concern," said Peter Crum, a local resident.
HELCO, the island's main service provider of electricity, says around 8,100 customers are still without power as of Monday night on the Big Island. The power company has likewise mobilized crews from other islands to help fix the power concern.
The tropical storm has impacted some 150 homes and four business establishments. The storm has also damaged around 100 telephone and power posts across the island state.
Meanwhile, another tropical storm is inching closer to the island state. Accuweather.com reported the tropical storm names Julio was spotted about "393 miles to the northeast of Honolulu."
"It is tracking northwestward over the open waters of the Pacific Ocean," the report added.
The storm Julio, however, will slow down and weakens up as it closes in towards cooler waters off the north.
