HONOLULU (KHON2) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working to remove debris in Kula.
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But some residents said they are eager to rebuild and are wondering how long it will take for the debris to be cleared from their properties.
There are new signs from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and they have to meet all these requirements before they get county approval to go and remove debris off the property.
Ross, an area resident, has been waiting weeks for a pile of debris to be removed from his property on Kulalani.
He’s been here almost every day since the fires cleaning, finding old belongings and then waiting.
He said, he’s getting frustrated that it hasn’t been cleared as more agencies come to mark off boxes for someone else to look at.
“We have completed the Phase one portion of the mission for Kula and are looking to transition into Phase two, debris removal process once we have all ROE data collection, that’s the last in those checked marked items that needs to be completed,” said Mark Cardwell debris subject expert with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Some residents are wondering why hazardous materials need to be checked again when the EPA did it weeks ago.
KHON2 spoke to one of the Hawaiian cultural teams who told us they don’t anticipate identifying anything culturally sensitive in Kula, but it still needs to be marked off.
Cardwell said county staffing has limited how quickly they’re able to move
“There’s a lot of things that could happen, we do want to go quickly, and once we have assessments done once the paperwork is done we can complete Phase two debris operations,” continued Cardwell.
He said Phase two could begin anytime in the next 30 to 60 days
“Right now three crews working is the plan so on a given day you’ll have three properties being worked at one time.”
Once crews start on a home it should take three to four days to clear but then soil sampling needs to happen.
“We’ll take six inch scrape, do soil sampling if there’s still contaminates there is measures in place to do an additional six inches get containment out of the soil and the homeowner to rebuild at that time,” Cardwell added.
He said there will be many more contractors in place once debris removal begins in Lahaina.
On Friday, the State Land Board approved of using the site in Olowalu to store the debris but building that site could take six to eight months to complete.
