KITV: Kauai small businesses still waiting for financial aid after Hurricane Lowell
October 1, 2026
By Kristen Consillio
KAUAI, Hawaii (Island News) — Cadena Ragsdale was hoping to be among the first to apply for the Kauai Hurricane Lowell Business Recovery grant program.
And hoping to rehire the majority of her staff she was forced to lay off when business took a sharp dive after the storm.
“I had an alarm set. I was going to have be able to apply right at 8 a.m. as they said it was going to open and we got an email the night before that said it was going to be delayed and that they would let us know when it was going to open,” she said. “It was very sad for a lot of us. We were all really excited. It was the first kind of glimpse of hope that, like okay, there’s a little bit of help here.”
Kauai is still waiting for a presidential major disaster declaration, which would open the way for federal relief programs.
“We have some that were impacted with destruction of physical locations and physical property, and then we have many, many more that were impacted severely because… basically their revenue has dramatically shrunk,” said Will Smith, Kauai director for the Hawaii Small Business Development Center.
And that means more closures — and layoffs — are on the horizon.
“We’re getting thousands of new initial claims where with the week before Hurricane Lowell, we were less than 100 initial claims,” he said.
With fewer local people spending money at local businesses.
“Because we have employees of businesses who are also struggling and they’re cutting back on their spending so it’s kind of a vicious cycle,” he added.
The state, along with the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, is planning to distribute $2 million in grants to help Kauai’s small businesses and nonprofits recover.
“People are planning to come, but I don’t think they’re coming until the new year,” Ragsdale said. “So we’re looking at maybe you know three to six months before things potentially get back to normal.”
And for many Garden Isle businesses, every passing day is a struggle to survive.
“I have restaurants that have not reopened. I’ve got restaurants that have decided to close their doors permanently,” she said. “It’s really scary for a lot of businesses.”
See the story here.