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Kailua, Hawaii

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1952 and the latest in 1998. It stands in the Koolaupoko census division. It lies in ZIP code area 96734. It stands on Maunawili Stream. The Survey maps it on the Mokapu Point quadrangle. 40,514 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 16 feet above sea level.

Kailua within Honolulu County

On record in Kailua

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 5 records

Population over time

2 figures

Kailua grew from 38,635 to 40,514 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
201038,635
202040,514+1,879 (+5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 14 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

302 since 2001

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 302 fires within 5 miles of Kailua between 2001 and 2013, burning about 677 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined302

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2002Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCity and County of Honolulunot named
8 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCity and County of Honolulunot named
8 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCity and County of Honolulunot named
7 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined50 acresCity and County of Honolulunot named
6 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined50 acresCity and County of Honolulunot named
6 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCity and County of Honolulunot named
5 September 2002Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCity and County of Honolulunot named
4 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCity and County of Honolulunot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Honolulu County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Kailua: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Stone. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Kapah Quarry and MillStoneProducer

Every working recorded in Honolulu County

Storms near this place

29 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Kailua in 29 storm reports between 2000 and 2025: 10 heavy rain, 9 flash flood, 5 flood, 2 lightning. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
October 2004Flash FloodKailua$80,000,000no account filed
May 2011LightningKailua$50,000Around 60,000 customers in east Oahu lost electrical power after lightning struck two major transmission lines that serve the Pukele and Koolau substations.
January 2025FloodKailua-Kapaa Quarry Rd was closed due to flooding.
May 2024FloodKailua-Kapaa Quarry Rd was closed from Mokapu Saddle Rd to Mokapu Quarry Rd due to flooding.
May 2024Flash FloodKailua-Fast water was flowing over rock walls and over streets.
January 2022Flash FloodKailua-Heavy rain flooded Kapaa Quarry Road on the windward side of Oahu.
November 2018Flash FloodKailua-Flash flooding from heavy rain closed Kapaa Quarry Road and Mokapu Boulevard in windward Oahu. Also, at 0047 HST on the 10th, Kamehameha Highway was closed at the Waikane Stream.
December 2013LightningKailua-A lightning strike brought down a power line in Kailua in windward Oahu. The line came to rest on parked vehicles, where a man with a fire extinguisher tried to put out the smoldering debris. He touched one of the vehicles and was severely shocked by the arcing line.
March 2012Flash FloodKailua-Kapaa Quarry Road was closed due to flooding.
March 2012Flash FloodKailua-Oahu Department of Emergency Management reported more flooding along Kapaa Quarry Road.
March 2012HailKailua-A resident of Kailua reported 2-inch hail.
March 2012Flash FloodKailua-Water was reported overflowing along a portion of Mikiola Drive in Kaneohe on Oahu.
March 2012Tornado (EF0)Kailua-A National Weather Service Honolulu Damage Survey team confirmed a waterspout moved ashore as an EF0 tornado in Lanikai and tracked southwest, impacting portions of the Enchanted Lakes subdivision in Kailua on Oahu. Several roofs were damaged or destroyed, trees were downed, road signs were mangled, and power lines were snapped.
June 2011Flash FloodKailua-Kapaa Quarry Road in Kailua in windward Oahu closed to small vehicle traffic for a time due to flooding near Mokapu Saddle Road.
February 2011Flash FloodKailua-Heavy rain caused flooding along Kapaa Quarry Road near Kailua on the island of Oahu.
February 2020Heavy RainKailua-no account filed
April 2018Heavy RainKailua-no account filed
April 2017Heavy RainKailua-no account filed
July 2017Heavy RainKailua-no account filed
July 2013Heavy RainKailua-no account filed
April 2011Heavy RainKailua-no account filed
December 2011Heavy RainKailua-no account filed
February 2010Heavy RainKailua-no account filed
October 2004Funnel CloudKailua-no account filed
October 2004Heavy RainKailua-no account filed
January 2002Heavy RainKailua-no account filed
February 2001FloodKailua-no account filed
November 2000FloodKailua-no account filed
August 2000FloodKailua-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Honolulu County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Pōhākupu1.6 miles14
Lanikai1.6 miles14
Keaʻalu1.7 miles14
Mahinui1.8 miles14
Mālaʻe1.9 miles14
Keolu Hills1.9 miles14
Kokokahi2.0 miles13
Maunawili2.8 miles12

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on KailuaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q532459The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 359894. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.