Graves were unearthed, headstones toppled and caskets washed away the night of Aug. 15 down Ka‘alaiki Road and Highway 11 by the raging floodwaters of Hurricane Lala as they tore through Nā‘ālehu Cemetery and the old Hawaiian cemetery at Kauaha‘ao Congregational Church in Waiʻōhinu on the Big Island.
Some came to rest in people’s yards and businesses.
Hawaiʻi National Guard’s 93rd Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Enhanced Response Force Package has worked this week in Nā‘ālehu to recover the remains previously buried in Nā‘ālehu Cemetery, which is owned by Hawai‘i County.
The county on Thursday announced 69 sets of unearthed human remains had been identified.
Toby Kekoa Burgos was with his girlfriend Alajshae Barrios on Wednesday, looking for her family’s headstones in the heart of Nā‘ālehu, a few days after Lala buried the community in mud, toppled trees and power lines and moved rocks and other debris to block roads and bridges.
Burgos and Barrios parked at Hana House Restaurant, across the intersection from Ka‘alaiki Road and Highway 11 on Nā‘ālehu Spur Road, and started walking. They flipped headstones so names could be visible for family members hunting for those of loved ones.
“We tried going up (Ka‘alaiki Road), but it was all covered in rocks,” said 21-year-old Burgos.
Barrios searched for her great-grandfather’s headstone.
“All of our loved ones are scattered all over the place,” said the 18-year-old. “They could be all the way to the bottom, where all the water rushed, or it could be like right there, buried underneath all that pile of rocks. We don’t know where.”
There has been discussion about setting up a hotline family members can use to coordinate custody of remains, returning them to families and questions about layout of the cemetery to help identify “who may have been where.”
Hawai‘i County in 1952 took over management of the Nā‘ālehu Cemetery. There are 474 graves.
“The discovery of burials within the flood area was heartbreaking for the Nāʻālehu community, and their pain is shared by our entire island,” said Hawai‘i County Mayor Kimo Alameda. “After receiving concerning reports of human remains, caskets and headstones below the cemetery, we contacted experts across the state for assistance, blocked off the area and ensured that no debris removal happens nearby.
“We want to assure the community that every step of this recovery process is being carried out with compassion, care and respect for the deceased and their descendants.”
Lala’s floodwaters also knocked headstones off their bases and buried the old Hawaiian cemetery at Kauaha‘ao Congregational Church under debris, trash, boulders and mud.
The cemetery contains about 100 graves, with some families buried on top of each other, said Kahu Debbie Wong Yeun.
Wong Yeun said in Lala’s aftermath headstones from the cemetery were found in nearby properties after they broke off during the Category I hurricane and floated down a flooded Highway 11.
Zed Ka‘apana Aki of Ocean View discovered Tuesday the headstones of his great-grandparents were severely damaged when he stopped at the church during his first supply visit to Nā‘ālehu after Lala.
Aki said he knew that Kauaha‘ao Congregational Church, located at Kama‘oa Road and Pinao Street overlooking the Waiʻōhinu turn, would have debris on the grounds because flooding from the kona low storms in March deposited silt on top of the graveyard.
“But it didn’t have massive damage then,” he said.
He made the trip to Nā‘ālehu and stopped at the church earlier this week after roads were cleared from downed power lines and trees.
“It was completely devastated, way worse than we imagined,” Aki said.
Aki’s great-grandparents, former pastors at the church, were both buried there.
“I found my great-grandmother’s headstone, which has got to weigh over 300 pounds, was just toppled over and knocked off of the grave itself, and my great-grandfather’s headstone was disjointed off its base,” he said.
Aki tried to pick it up but couldn’t.
“It was such a major gut punch, you know?” Aki said. “At the time I just wanted to fall down and start crying.”
Workers from Isemoto Contracting came to help him put the headstones back in place.
Aki said his great-grandmother’s headstone had a “beautiful and clear” picture of her, but “now it’s just destroyed.”
Barrios said they did find her great-grandfather’s headstone, but they think the other family member’s headstone got washed away.
She heard that the area where the cemetery is now buried is closed off as National Guard team searches for human remains and try to help families reunite with their loved ones.
“They just want to close that graveyard part off for now so they can do their job, but it’s going to be a long process,” Barrios said.
Aki, who also has family relatives buried in Nā‘ālehu, said he can’t think about the desecrated cemeteries just yet.
“We just keep our head down and busy ourselves with helping survivors,” he said. “Buried ‘ohana that were just scattered all over the town, that’s still giving folks in the community trauma.”
He’s told other people and even himself: “This is something that we as a community have to have the time to come together and talk about because there are so many different beliefs involved.”
Wong Yeun said it will be up to the church to cover the cost of repairing its cemetery. There is no evidence, at this point, that human remains were unearthed. The real damage won’t be known, however, until a contractor is hired to clear it.
She was driven to the church Tuesday by Hawai‘i County Deputy Public Works Director Neil Azevedo. It gave her an opportunity to bless the church and cemetery before crews started working to clear the Waiʻōhinu turn on Highway 11.
Wong Yeun has been horrified as she’s watched news coverage of Lala, seeing news crews showing images of human remains.
“It’s so heartbreaking,” she said. “It’s very disturbing.”
Wong Yeun hopes people show more respect going forward. She asks those who are curious and choose to stop at the church to say a prayer and move on quickly.
Guidance and support for the collection and documentation of remains at Nā‘ālehu Cemetery is being provided by the Maui Department of ʻŌiwi Resources and Hawaiʻi Department of Health. Specialists assisting with the effort include cultural practitioners, archeologists, forensic anthropologists, osteologists and the special response team from the Hawaiʻi National Guard.
“We are working expeditiously and collaboratively with other agencies and subject-matter experts, including cultural practitioners and the faith-based community, to ensure the collection, storage and identification of human remains is done properly and respectfully,” said Acting Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense Administrator Darryl Oliveira. “Our goal is to complete as much of the recovery as we can before the arrival of the next storm. We will also be working closely with families and their spiritual representatives so that reinterment happens in line with their wishes.”
The county asks anyone who finds human remains to leave them in place and immediately contact Civil Defense at 808-935-0031.
Residents with questions about the cemetery and condition of burial plots can contact Hawaiʻi County Parks and Recreation at 808-961-8311 or via email at cemetery@hawaiicounty.gov.
