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.
Population over time
2 figuresKaunakakai 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 3,425 | |
| 2020 | 3,419 | -6 (-0%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 7 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1952 USGS Kaunakakai quadrangle1:24000
- 1954 USGS Maui quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Maui quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Kaunakakai quadrangle1:24000
- 1974 USGS Maui quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1993 USGS Kaunakakai quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
35 since 1998Regional 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/undetermined | 35 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | County of Maui | not named |
| 7 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | County of Maui | not named |
| 3 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | County of Maui | not named |
| 28 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8.0 acres | County of Maui | not named |
| 4 August 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | County of Maui | not named |
| 29 August 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,800 acres | State of Hawaii | not named |
| 26 August 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | County of Maui | not named |
| 23 August 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 acres | County of Maui | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manawaunui Quarry and Mill | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Kaunakakai Pits | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Red Hill Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
19 since 1996Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2003 | Wildfire | Kaunakakai | 4 hurt, $10,000 | no account filed |
| October 2002 | Flash Flood | Kaunakakai | $70,000 | no account filed |
| January 1997 | Flood | Kaunakakai | $24,000 | no account filed |
| July 2013 | Lightning | Kaunakakai | $20,000 | A lightning strike to a power plant on Molokai near Kaunakakai took out power to the island. |
| March 2026 | Flash Flood | Kaunakakai | - | 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 2023 | Flash Flood | Kaunakakai | - | 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 2014 | Flash Flood | Kaunakakai | - | Maunaloa Highway was closed at the Kaunakakai Gulch due to high water on the island of Molokai. |
| August 1998 | Waterspout | Kaunakakai | - | Pilot reported seeing a couple of waterspouts northwest of the Molokai airport. |
| January 1997 | Flash Flood | Kaunakakai | - | Flooding reported along the Kawela and Kaunakakai Streams and along the Maunaloa and Kamehameha Roads. |
| March 2016 | Heavy Rain | Kaunakakai | - | no account filed |
| December 2011 | Heavy Rain | Kaunakakai | - | no account filed |
| December 2004 | Heavy Rain | Kaunakakai | - | no account filed |
| January 2004 | Flash Flood | Kaunakakai | - | no account filed |
| February 2004 | Flash Flood | Kaunakakai | - | no account filed |
| November 2001 | Flash Flood | Kaunakakai | - | no account filed |
| November 2000 | Flood | Kaunakakai | - | no account filed |
| October 1999 | Flood | Kaunakakai | - | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Funnel Cloud | Kaunakakai | - | no account filed |
| January 1996 | Funnel Cloud | Kaunakakai | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kōheo | 0.4 miles | 7 | |
| Manila Camp (historical) | 0.5 miles | 7 | |
| Ranch Camp (historical) | 0.5 miles | 7 | |
| Kapaʻakea Colony (historical) | 0.5 miles | 7 | |
| Kamiloloa | 1.0 miles | 9 | |
| ʻUmipaʻa | 2.2 miles | 7 | |
| Kawela | 3.8 miles | 9 | |
| Kualapuʻu | 4.5 miles | 7 |
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 Kaunakakai | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q744198 | The 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.





