HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Sunday’s whipping winds ripped roofs off 22 structures, the Honolulu Fire Department reported.
One of the buildings with a blown roof was an apartment complex in Nanakuli along Helelua Street, leaving 12 people without a home.
“It was scary, it was insane, I didn’t think it would fall,” neighbor Makayla Rivera said. “My little brothers were upstairs and they saw the whole thing and they ran out here and they almost got hit with the stuff.”
In Salt Lake, neighbors caught the moment a giant gust tore the roof off a home on Ala Aloalo Street on camera.
“It was unreal. It was hard to imagine that something like this would happen, really. It really happened fast,” said Ricky Almodova, who lives right next door.
Fortunately, the two-story home is vacant, so no one was hurt or displaced.
The Honolulu Fire Department reported that since Saturday, they responded to nearly 100 calls, with 60 of them for downed trees, 22 for blown roofs, and 11 for downed power lines.
“If there is damage, we want to make sure you as a homeowner are educated and know what to do next,” Atlas Insurance Agency Executive Vice President Sharilyn Tanaka said.
Even if you’re unsure whether you have appropriate coverage, Tanaka advised the best thing to do is file a claim.
“The more information that you can provide to the claims adjustor as you go through this process, the better,” Tanaka added.
When documenting the damage, Tanaka suggested being as specific as possible with details, to take pictures and video, and provide any surveillance footage if you have any.
Meantime, Hawaiian Electric said customers have 30 days to file claims for losses from power outages.
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