Hawaii has been struck by multiple storms since March 10, resulting in disastrous flooding. Rainfall moved from island to island, displacing many communities. With the potential of millions of dollars in damages, officials are calling this the worst flooding Hawaii has seen in 20 years. However, coverage of the statewide disaster has remained limited. This leaves the nation without proper information as the state of Hawaii faces the impacts of the disaster alone.
I had the opportunity of interviewing a Hawaii local, whom I connected with through a mutual contact. Jonathon Chandler shared his firsthand experiences and stories he heard from other residents in the aftermath of the storms. Chandler experienced multiple power outages, but says the Windward families— those living on the east coast—were confronted with the worst of the storms.
“For Windward families, a lot of them had to grab what they could carry and literally run for their lives,” Chandler said.
Hawaii faced a Kona storm, a type of subtropical cyclone, which caused intense flooding as the storm raged on for several days. Just four days later, the state braced for another major Kona storm. As the worst of the rain finally began to pass on March 24, locals were left dealing with the rapid escalation of rising waters and the devastation to their communities.
When asked, Chandler responded to what he wished the rest of the country understood.
“They mentioned flooding, they mentioned potential dam breaks,” Chandler said. “But they haven’t covered how quickly the water rose. I’ve seen videos from a local school caked in mud and silt.”
The lack of media coverage is not necessarily due to indifference. There are many possible reasons why some stories and places receive more visibility than others.
“Some rural and remote roads become impassable, and so it’s more difficult to get reporters and crews safely to the scene,” journalist and UCF professor Eric Adelson said. This was evident during Hurricane Michael, where extensive damage limited access. Adelson emphasized that journalists “never want to get in the way of rescue or recovery.”
During Hurricane Michael, many residents were unable to reach their families due to widespread communication outages and the struggle of limited mobility due to the debris and downed power lines. Despite the assistance provided to the city, national media coverage remained limited. Panama City, for example, has only one local newspaper, which impacts the national visibility of local disasters.
Hawaii has experienced a significant decline in local news organizations over the past few decades, and without local reporting, many important communities, news sources, and voices can be overlooked. Professor Adelson attributed some of the lack of coverage to “news deserts,” saying that “fewer regions get adequate coverage.” This is not new; for many natural disasters, the cities that bore the brunt of the damage are overlooked. An Alaskan village, Kipnuk, is still working to recover from a Typhoon that ripped through their community in October. This goes to show that just because the media circulation subsides, the community’s struggle does not.
It’s not just news deserts that prevent the circulation of information; social media and its algorithms can support or limit the visibility of important news. When talking with Yvienne Casseus, a nursing major at UCF, she explained how “recently, no, I haven’t seen anything about Hawaii.” This suggests that if the news isn’t trending, it may not reach younger audiences’ feeds because algorithms are less likely to prioritize the story. Like many college students, she receives most of her news from “viral media,” and these algorithms can significantly impact what stories are seen.
When asked about social media’s role in a story’s circulation, Adelson explained that “Sometimes social media directs needed attention to an under-covered story. But sometimes attention on one affected region or community can distort the overall impact of a storm, or overshadow a more dire situation away from the social media microscope.” Together, these factors can impact a story’s ability to reach a larger audience or go largely unseen.
As the flooding dwindles, Hawaii’s residents are not just left rebuilding what was lost, but wondering why, once again, they are left unnoticed when they need help the most. As Jonathon Chandler of Hawaii put it, “the media treated it as a novelty rather than a crisis.”