HONOLULU–Credit unions across the Hawaii islands today are assessing damage to their operations, to their members and to their communities in the wake of a tropical storm that dropped as much as four feet of rain in some places.
As CUToday.info reported here, many credit unions had closed branches late last week as Hurricane Lane approached the islands, striking the Big Island first. The storm was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it hit most of Hawaii, but even though the winds had weakened from their peak, the significant rains meant flooding in many places, leading to landslides, road closures and some power outages.
“The storm's toll could be staggering,” AccuWeather President Joel Myers. “Lane has the potential to be the single-costliest hurricane in the recorded history of Hawaii and could tally the most expensive hurricane damage for the 2018 hurricane season, which ends Nov. 30.”
The Hawaii Credit Union League, which said it will be open for business today, last week told CUToday.info that it will be in contact with its member CUs this week to determine any storm-related needs they or their members might have.
As the storm was approaching Hawaii and then hitting the islands, PSCU said in a statement that its contact centers were taking extra call volume from its member CUs in the state that had closed due to the storm. "We anticipate volume will continue to increase as the slow moving storm continues along its path, and we also anticipate higher than normal call volume following the storm," PSCU said. "We will continue to stay in close contact with these credit unions during and after the storm. Our call centers are staffed to handle the additional volume."