Winds from the north gusted to 63 mph yesterday at official weather service reporting stations and even higher at unofficial stations on Maui. They played havoc across the state, yanking up roofing material, downing power lines, uprooting trees and painting the Maui landscape red with dust.

But today, they were expected to drop to 15 to 20 mph as they moved more out of the cool north, said weather service forecaster Robert Ballard.

"The winds will be down today," Ballard said. "It is still going to be pretty gusty out there but not as bad as it was yesterday. It really picked up there in the afternoon."

The predictions are for north winds of 10 to 20 mph through the weekend, then shifting to the southwest by Monday and dropping down to 5 to 15 mph, Ballard said.

Lows of 70 degrees are forecast through Sunday night.

"For the next few days it is going to be cooler than normal," he said.

On the Big Island yesterday, winds gusting to 50 mph sent a large kiawe tree crashing onto the roof of a cabin at a homeless shelter at about 11 a.m., prompting evacuation of 23 families from the Kawaihae Transitional Housing Program.

Joni N. Chun, acting executive director of Catholic Charities Hawai'i Community and Immigrant Services, said no one was in that part of the double cabin at the time, but the impact shoved the structure three to four feet off its foundation.

The Red Cross opened an emergency shelter for the families at the Waimea Community Center. About 30 people went there, while the rest stayed with friends, Chun said.

Firefighters yesterday responded to a number of calls regarding loose roofing materials throughout the day, said Honolulu fire Capt. Kenison Tejada, but most were minor.

Meanwhile, Hawaiian Electric Co. crews were fighting through traffic as well, making their way from one power failure to another, restoring power in one area only to have the wind arc a power line or down a pole in the next.

Power failures across O'ahu affected 1,400 customers in Manoa, 1,500 in Nanakuli, 2,100 in Makaha, 2,400 in Kaimuki and 1,300 in Waimanalo, said HECO spokesman Jose Dizon. Most of the failures lasted about an hour and a half, Dizon said.

About 7 p.m., trouble on a power line that crosses a ridge from parts of Kailua to 'Aina Haina and Wai'alae Iki left 3,500 people without power, Dizon said.

By 8 p.m., the flashlight inventory at the Foodland store in 'Aina Haina was two.

Power lines were also snapping on Maui yesterday morning.

Gusts measured by Maui Electric Co. at 68 mph raked the Kihei and Wailea areas on the leeward coast, snapping utility poles on Kilohana Drive, South Kihei Road and Pi'ilani Highway in Kihei and causing power failures affecting about 500 customers around 11:30 a.m.

By midday, the the rain was clearing, but clouds of red dirt obliterated much of the scenery.

Safety concerns caused by the wind led Maui County to close the three Kama'ole Beach parks and Kalama Park in Kihei. In Lahaina, several boats broke loose from their moorings near Mala Wharf.

Winds also forced closure of Kawaihae Harbor on the Big Island at 12:15 p.m. after a particularly strong gust toppled a stack of empty shipping containers. The weather service recorded a gust of 63 mph at the harbor at noon.

There were no injuries in the Big Island harbor incident.

On Kaua'i, lifeguards closed north-side beaches and the waters off Polihale State Park on the west side because of storm surf 15 to 25 feet high.

In Kane'ohe Bay, Marine Corps Base Hawaii Waterfront Operations crews rescued three fishermen about 8:30 a.m. after a boat overturned in the Sampan Channel.