Several hundred yards of dust screening was torn apart by powerful gusts before dawn today at the Home Depot construction site at Kukui Grove in Lihu‘e. Jan tenBruggencate • The Honolulu Advertiser

Fred Kobashikawa of Hawaiian Electric Co. said weather-related outages occurred today in Kailua and Kunia. In addition, a Cox Enterprise transmitter station on Wai'alae Nui Ridge above Kahala that services mobile radios for cabs and tour buses, as well as two FM radio stations, lost its power and had to switch to an emergency generator, added Kobashikawa.

About 1,500 HECO customers in Kailua were without power from 8:50 to 9:14 a.m. today while an outage at 8:54 a.m. affected about 100 customers on Kunia Road, said Kobashikawa.

HECO also reported that a utility pole in Kahuku was badly damaged by winds at 5:59 a.m. and will have to be replaced. The broken pole, however, did not cause an outage.

Verizon, meanwhile, responded to damaged telephone utility poles on Kaukonahua Road near Thomson's Corner. Company spokesperson Ann Nishida said one pole snapped causing five others to lean. "The cable is intact and service was not impacted," she said.

Honolulu firefighters responded to two blown-roof calls today in Kahalu'u and Waimanalo.

The National Weather Service forecast calls for diminishing southwest winds by late afternoon today as a cold front moves away from the island chain. A high surf advisory, however, will be in effect today through tomorrow on all northwest-facing shores on all islands.

Lead forecaster Jeff Powell said the weather will improve by Sunday.

Surf on O'ahu and Kaua'i is expected to be in the 10-15 feet range, possibly rising to 25 feet tonight. The weather service expects to issue a high-surf warning later today when a series of northwest swells arrives.

On Kaua'i, powerful and gusty winds knocked down trees and limbs through the night. Residents reported scattered outages and crews were cleaning debris off the roads islandwide.

The high winds tore down nearly half a mile of dust fencing at the new Home Depot construction site at Kukui Grove forcing a brief closure of the roadway today.

Big Island and Maui officials reported no significant overnight weather-related problems.