A Hawaiian Electric crew cuts up an ironwood tree that fell across Kalaniana‘ole Highway near a Waimanalo polo field. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Strong southwest winds moving ahead of a cold front this morning prompted the National Weather Service to issue a high wind advisory for much of the state. The advisory is expected to remain in effect until 8 p.m. and gusts of up to 50 mph are possible, the weather service said.

More than 1,500 customers lost electricity at 5:30 a.m. in Waimanalo after a tall ironwood tree fell over Kalaniana‘ole Highway, knocking down power lines near the entrance to Bellows Air Force Base, said Fred Kobashikawa, HECO spokesman. The gusting winds also knocked over a smaller tree about 200 feet further up the highway toward Makapu‘u.

Police officers investigating an unrelated case at the Bellows gate, said they had been pelted by

pine cones and tree debris for about hour before the tree fell. But the wind was so loud, they didn’t know the tree had gone down until they saw the flash of arcing power lines.

Kobashikawa said a second power line went down near the entrance to Olomana Golf Course at 5:37 a.m., affecting 600 customers.

Traffic was backed up in Waimanalo from the Chevron station to an area near Enchanted Lake. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Power for customers in both Waimanalo outages was restored by 8 a.m., he said. But at roughly the same time in Kane‘ohe — 7:50 a.m. — a line went down near Halekou Road. He did not know how many customers were affected there.

Police were so busy with wind and power-related problems that officers were being called in early to fill in for other officers who were out directing traffic through intersections.

"Everybody is out on traffic posts," said Robert Domingo at the central receiving desk at the police department’s Kane‘ohe substation. "We had a power surge and all the alarms went off. They were jumping all over from about 5 a.m. We’re going crazy."