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Kaunakakai, Hawaii

7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1952 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the East Molokai census division. It lies in ZIP code area 96748. It lies in Kaunakakai Gulch. The Survey maps it on the Kaunakakai quadrangle. 3,419 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 20 feet above sea level.

Kaunakakai within Maui County

Population over time

2 figures

Kaunakakai fell from 3,425 to 3,419 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
20103,425
20203,419-6 (-0%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 7 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

35 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 35 fires within 5 miles of Kaunakakai between 1998 and 2012, burning about 20,516 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/undetermined35

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
8 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCounty of Mauinot named
7 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCounty of Mauinot named
3 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCounty of Mauinot named
28 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined8.0 acresCounty of Mauinot named
4 August 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCounty of Mauinot named
29 August 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined7,800 acresState of Hawaiinot named
26 August 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCounty of Mauinot named
23 August 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined30 acresCounty of Mauinot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Maui County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Kaunakakai: 3 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, 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
Manawaunui Quarry and MillStonePast Producer
Kaunakakai PitsStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Red Hill PitStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Maui County

Storms near this place

19 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Kaunakakai in 19 storm reports between 1996 and 2026: 8 flash flood, 3 flood, 3 heavy rain, 2 funnel cloud. The reports record 4 injuries. 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
August 2003WildfireKaunakakai4 hurt, $10,000no account filed
October 2002Flash FloodKaunakakai$70,000no account filed
January 1997FloodKaunakakai$24,000no account filed
July 2013LightningKaunakakai$20,000A lightning strike to a power plant on Molokai near Kaunakakai took out power to the island.
March 2026Flash FloodKaunakakai-A landslide was reported at mile marker 16.5 of Kamehameha V Highway. On March 13, Flash flooding was also reported at Kawela Gulch on Molokai with water flowing over Kamehameha Highway Bridge.
January 2023Flash FloodKaunakakai-Kamehameha V Highway near Kaunakakai was closed due to flash flooding. There were rapid rises on the Kawela Gulch and the Kaunakakai Gulch stream gauges and homes were flooded in the Kawela Gulch area.
December 2014Flash FloodKaunakakai-Maunaloa Highway was closed at the Kaunakakai Gulch due to high water on the island of Molokai.
August 1998WaterspoutKaunakakai-Pilot reported seeing a couple of waterspouts northwest of the Molokai airport.
January 1997Flash FloodKaunakakai-Flooding reported along the Kawela and Kaunakakai Streams and along the Maunaloa and Kamehameha Roads.
March 2016Heavy RainKaunakakai-no account filed
December 2011Heavy RainKaunakakai-no account filed
December 2004Heavy RainKaunakakai-no account filed
January 2004Flash FloodKaunakakai-no account filed
February 2004Flash FloodKaunakakai-no account filed
November 2001Flash FloodKaunakakai-no account filed
November 2000FloodKaunakakai-no account filed
October 1999FloodKaunakakai-no account filed
June 1997Funnel CloudKaunakakai-no account filed
January 1996Funnel CloudKaunakakai-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Maui 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
Kōheo0.4 miles7
Manila Camp (historical)0.5 miles7
Ranch Camp (historical)0.5 miles7
Kapaʻakea Colony (historical)0.5 miles7
Kamiloloa1.0 miles9
ʻUmipaʻa2.2 miles7
Kawela3.8 miles9
Kualapuʻu4.5 miles7

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 KaunakakaiAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q744198The 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 360717. 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.