No damage estimate was available, but O'ahu Civil Defense officials hoped to tour the island today, a spokesman said. They planned to have a National Guard crewman on a helicopter training flight take photos of damaged areas. Much of the damage was in Kailua, Kane'ohe and the North Shore.

Gusts of wind on O'ahu yesterday were worthy of a hurricane: 92 mph in Kane'ohe Bay, 85 mph above Makua Valley. Others were equally impressive: 60 mph on Mokapu Peninsula and 64 mph at Wheeler Army Air Field.

The wind may have caused one death — a homeless man on Kaua'i — but county officials there could not say if a 40-foot section of a Norfolk Island pine tree fell on or just near the victim. The victim was identified as 36-year-old Michael Larson who is also known as Michael Souza.

He was found in a wooded area off Ka'apuni Road in the Kapa'a Homesteads.

About 11,000 customers in Hawai'i Kai and Kuli'ou'ou suffered power failures yesterday — some at 1:15 p.m. and the rest at 6:25 p.m. — that were not expected to be fixed until 2 p.m. today, said Jose Dizon, spokesman for Hawaiian Electric Co.

A repair crew sent up in a helicopter this morning was able to spot problems found problems with one of two 46-kilovolt transmission lines on the Koolau Mountains, but could not see anything wrong with the second line, Dizon said.

"It could be that line could be energized sooner because there is no damage, but we don’t yet," Dizon said this morning.

Power losses plagued the island yesterday. All told, nearly 69,000 HECO customers lost power at some point yesterday. HECO crews worked throughout the day to restore power to most of the island. As of 9:35 last night, 3,000 customers in Wahiawa, Waimanalo, Waialua and Waimea remained in the dark.

At Koko Marina Center business owners did their best this morning to cope with the problem.

While technicians waited at the Koko Marina Theaters to deal with projectors that stopped mid-movie, Win Schoneman, owner of Bubbies Homemade Ice Cream and Desserts, opened early today to give away ice cream.

He lost an estimated $10,000 worth of inventory — 240 gallons of ice cream that started melting yesterday.

"We’re going to serve up some free milkshakes and make people happy," Win said. "What else can you do?"

Over at the nearby Foodland Super Market, perishable items were being thrown away and customers escorted inside to purchase non-perishable items, said company spokeswoman Sheryl Toda. Meat, milk and dairy products and produce all were tossed, she said.

On O'ahu, Castle and Kaiser High, Kailua Intermediate, Koko Head, Kamiloiki and Haha'ione, Hale Kula Elementary schools and the Hakipuu Learning Center were closed today because of wind damage or loss of power. Nine O'ahu schools were closed yesterday.

On Maui, Iao Intermediate and Hana High and Elementary also were closed.

Firefighters responded to 112 calls of damaged roofs and another 30 calls for electrical hazards caused by the winds, said Fire Department Capt. Kenison Tejada.

Firefighters rarely paused all day, moving from one problem to another until the wind let up in the evening, Tejada said.

But the winds were vicious.

Tom Gordon, a filmmaker who lives on a 65-foot sailboat in Kane'ohe Bay, was stunned yesterday morning when he checked the wind gauge on his boat.

It read 92 mph.

Before the morning was over, he’d also see a 100-foot-tall waterspout and get pinged by hail.

"The hailstones were only about three times the size of a BB, but incredibly intense," he said. "And, boy, did they sting!

"It just whited out. I couldn’t even see the length of the boat."

Access to the North Shore was cut off for hours yesterday by fallen utility poles and trees. All roads were open today.

As many as 20 utility poles snapped along Kamehameha Highway just outside Wahiawa and forced police to close the roadway from Helemano to the Hale'iwa Bypass and Kaukonahua Road for hours. At 5 p.m., Hale'iwa-bound motorists were allowed to travel on Kamehameha Highway; Kaukonahua Road was opened in both directions.

Motorists who were detoured to a plantation road off Kamehameha Highway saw as many as 50 broken utility poles lying in fields.

Also on Kaua'i, a 65-foot steel torpedo recovery boat that went aground in Hanapepe Bay during the storm yesterday morning was still awash today.

A Navy mobile salvage diving unit from Pearl Harbor was on the scene this morning making plans to raise the vessel. The boat had been moored by chain and line in Port Allen Harbor when breaking seas caused it to break free from its moorings.

Kaua'i Island Utility Coop crews continued to chase down power outages this morning, including one that affected the Kaua'i Humane Society facility in Haiku.

Parts of Maui also were without electricity this morning. Maui Electric Co. said at 8:15 a.m. that it would take eight to 10 hours to restore power from Camp Maluhia to Kahakuloa village along the northwestern coastline. A helicopter and ground crews were dispatched to repair downed and tangled lines in the remote and rugged region.

Hana also was without power after fallen trees, branches and power poles continued to delay MECO from re-energizing its 23-kilovolt lines that serve the East Maui area. Electricity was expected to be restored by early afternoon.

In certain areas of Upcountry Maui, including Pi'iholo, Ulumalu, Kuiaha and Ha'iku, power was due to be restored mid-morning.

Although a number of businesses in Central Maui had to close yesterday because of extended power outages, the only report of major damage came from a commercial building in the Kahului Industrial Area that lost most of its metal roof. The building on Ho'ohana Street housed several businesses, including Brigit & Bernard’s Garden Cafe, which is expected to be closed at least a week, said owner Bernard Weber.

The roof blew off at 11:45 a.m. yesterday, causing patrons and staff to scramble for safety. Weber said the ceiling, drywall, tables, mahogany bar, food supplies and business records were damaged or ruined.