Updated

Updated · The New York Times · Aug 18

Hurricane Lala Destroys Naalehu Cemetery, Exposing 6 Caskets on Hawaii's Big Island

Updated

Updated · The New York Times · Aug 18

Hurricane Lala Destroys Naalehu Cemetery, Exposing 6 Caskets on Hawaii's Big Island

2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 18

At least six caskets were left visible in Naalehu after Hurricane Lala's flooding tore through a small cemetery, disinterring bodies and scattering headstones across a mud-choked debris field.
Monday's scene showed one unclothed body crushed beneath a boulder, while most exposed caskets were empty and ripped apart after floodwaters ripped through the hillside burial ground.
Families returned to check graves as earth movers cleared nearby damage, and the washed-out access road left 50-foot ravines beside what had been the cemetery approach.
Naalehu also suffered heavy destruction beyond the cemetery: nearly 2 feet of mud ringed Punalu'u Bakery, with a water line close to 4 feet and trucks and outbuildings shoved downhill.

Sources

After Hurricane Lala unearthed a Hawaiian cemetery, how will families recover their displaced loved ones from the devastating mudslides?

What hidden infrastructural flaws allowed Hurricane Lala's floodwaters to wash away highways and expose hillside graves on the Big Island?

With bridges destroyed and thousands trapped, can Hawaii's isolated Ka'u District survive the catastrophic aftermath of Hurricane Lala?

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