Most Big Island Parks Reopen After Kona Low, Some Beaches Remain Closed

County beach parks stretching from Spencer Beach Park in South Kohala to Kahaluʻu Beach Park in North Kona remained closed a week after the March Kona low swept through the Big Island, with a brown water advisory and ongoing debris cleanup keeping swimmers and visitors out of the water along that entire west-facing shoreline.

As of Monday, March 16, most parks across Hawaiʻi Island had reopened, though officials said damage assessments were ongoing at facilities across the island. But several sites remained closed, including all county beach parks in South Kohala and North Kona, Hale Hālāwai, Kona Community Aquatic Center, Waiʻōhinu Park, Harold H. Higashihara Park, and Mahukona Wharf.

The brown water advisory covered the west-facing shores for all beaches in South Kohala and North Kona Districts from Spencer Beach Park in South Kohala to Kahaluʻu Beach Park in North Kona District. A brown water advisory means nearshore ocean water may be contaminated after heavy rain, when runoff carries soil, debris, bacteria and other pollutants into the ocean. The county has not announced a timeline for lifting the closures at the affected beach parks.

Hale Hālāwai on Aliʻi Drive and the Kona Community Aquatic Center were also among the shuttered facilities. No reopening dates for any of the listed closed sites were included in the county's March 17 update, and damage assessments were described as continuing across the island.

To help residents with debris cleanup, the Department of Environmental Management expanded green waste collection services at several transfer stations from that point through Saturday, April 4. Green waste will be accepted at these locations between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. each day during the expanded period.

New collection sites include Keauhou, open daily, and Waiʻōhinu, open Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Four existing transfer stations, Keaʻau, Kealakehe, Waimea and Pāhoa, increased green waste collection to seven days a week for the same period. That gives residents across the island, from Waiʻōhinu in Kaʻū to Keauhou on the Kona coast, multiple drop-off options for storm debris through the first week of April.

Residents and businesses are encouraged to report storm damage to help local officials and non-profit partners better understand the extent of damage and its impact on the community. The county provided three channels for reporting: a Residential Damage Report, a Commercial Damage Report, and a Request for Assistance form. Those forms, along with the County of Hawaiʻi Hazard Impact Map and the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency website, are available through the county's official news page.

Mayor C. Kimo Alameda issued an emergency proclamation on March 12 after the National Weather Service forecast heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, flash flooding, and strong damaging winds for the county, with impacts expected to extend through March 17. The county's parks and green waste update followed that proclamation by five days, as crews continued assessing the full scope of storm damage across the island.