HURRICANE INIKI - SEPTEMBER 11, 1992

Hurricane Iniki passed over Kaua'i on September 11, 1992

On Sept. 11, 1992, Hurricane Iniki scoured the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i, destroying luxury beachfront hotels and modest inland homes without prejudice. The Garden Isle lost crops of sugarcane, coffee and macadamia nuts; uncultivated hillsides were stripped of lush vegetation.

While neighboring Oahu and Niihau also suffered damage, the $1.6 billion total for Kauai rivaled that of 1992's Hurricane Andrew in Florida, with a fraction of the population.

But 10 years after Iniki, its effects on island life in general and tourism in particular are clearly visible -- and that's not all bad.

The most noticeable immediate change on Kauai was the wholesale remodeling of the South Shore beaches, collectively known as Poi'pu. Formerly beachfront properties -- mostly condos and timeshares -- now overlook banks of lava rock, after Iniki (a Hawaiian word for "sharp" or "piercing") brought 20- to 30-foot waves that took the sand back to the sea.

Today, intrepid surfers and snorkelers ply those former beaches, while sun worshipers head up the shore road to the lovingly rebuilt Poi'pu Beach Park, which has a protected cove.

Head down the shore road, and Spouting Horn still thrusts its plume of water through the lava rock with a roar, but now it's accompanied by the clucks and crows of feral chickens and roosters, which parade through nearly every public park and private yard since Iniki dispersed their forebears.

Three major Poi'pu hotels -- the Sheraton, the Poipu Beach Hotel and the Stouffer Waiohai, as well as the Kiahuna Plantation condos -- took the full brunt of Iniki's savage winds and water. Kiahuna Plantation and the Sheraton took nearly five years to reopen, and the other two were completely written off.

However, from Poipu Beach Park, you can see construction of several new low-rise buildings on the site of the old Waiohai. They will become part of Marriott's new Waiohai Beach Club, a time-share resort opening in January 2003. Because of zoning restrictions, a handful of hotel rooms also will be available; parking will be underground, and as a goodwill gesture, Marriott is adding more public beachfront showers.

By contrast, Kauai's North Shore tourist destinations took less of a beating, in part because most of the Princeville lodgings sit high on a bluff above the waves. The cliffside Princeville Hotel was the obvious exception, taking 13 months to reopen.

The central-eastern shore saw almost as much damage. The Westin Kauai shut down for major repairs, reopening later as the Kauai Marriott and Beach Club, a hotel/timeshare hybrid. Although still connected to the Kauai Lagoons golf courses and spa, the resort no longer has canal boats to ferry guests around the site, and the nearby Whalers Brew Pub suffers from being next to the still-empty, battered storefronts of a luxury shopping strip.

Hurricane Iniki Wave Damage on the East Shore of Kaua'i

For Elvis Presley fans and others with fond memories of the venerable Coco Palms, the news is bad: Plans to restore the hotel, which served as the setting for the 1961 movie "Blue Hawaii," have repeatedly fallen through, and it remains a boarded-up eyesore off the main highway in Wailua.

The Coco Palms at Wailua is still closed due to Iniki damage

The Eye of Hurricane Iniki Passed over the Center of Kaua'i

Nature occasionally unleashes her fury on Kauai. In 1982, Hurricane Iwa tore through the island paradise with winds of up to 80 mph, but that paled in comparison to the savage storm that September 11, 1992 when Hurricane Iniki made landfall, ripping towns and villages apart with harrowing 227 mph winds. Six lives were lost and more than 14,000 buildings were damaged, with 1,400 homes completely destroyed.

Hurricane Iniki Caused Extensive Wind Damage on Kaua'i

Hurricane Iniki Wind Damage to the Koloa Tree Tunnel on Kaua'i

Cleaning up Hurricane Iniki Wind Damage to the Tree Tunnel

In 1992 Hurricane Iniki (whose name means sharp "as in wind or pangs of love") devastated the island. The old Sheraton pool became a sandpit, and the nearby Kiahuna Plantation rooms were in ruins with surfboards nailed through the walls like thumbtacks.

Hurricane Iniki Wind & Wave Damage to Kiahuna Plantation at Poi'pu Beach on Kaua'i

Hurricane Iniki Wind & Wave Damage to Kiahuna Plantation at Poi'pu Beach on Kaua'i

Hurricane Iniki Wind & Wave Damage at Poi'pu Beach on Kaua'i

Another View of Hurricane Iniki Wind & Wave Damage at Poi'pu Beach on Kaua'i

Hurricane Iniki Closed The Sheraton and Kiahuna Plantation for Years for Reconstruction