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Kawela Bay, Hawaii

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1998. It stands in the Koolauloa census division. It lies in ZIP code area 96731. It lies near ʻŌʻio Gulch. The Survey maps it on the Kahuku quadrangle. 325 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 9 feet above sea level.

Kawela Bay within Honolulu County

Population over time

2 figures

Kawela Bay fell from 330 to 325 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
2010330
2020325-5 (-2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 13 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

127 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 127 fires within 5 miles of Kawela Bay between 1992 and 2015, burning about 146 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/undetermined125
Equipment and vehicle use2

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 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCity and County of Honolulunot named
8 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCity and County of Honolulunot named
7 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCity and County of Honolulunot named
4 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresCity and County of Honolulunot named
30 September 2003Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresCity and County of Honolulunot named
28 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCity and County of Honolulunot named
28 September 2002Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresCity and County of Honolulunot named
28 September 2002Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresCity and County of Honolulunot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Honolulu County

Storms near this place

16 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Kawela Bay in 16 storm reports between 2008 and 2026: 14 heavy rain, 2 flash flood. 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
March 2026Flash FloodKawela Bay$1,000,000,000At approximately 800 pm HST, a mesoscale convective system was observed moving over the Kauai Channel towards Oahu. At around 900 pm HST, this mesoscale convective system moved over the west side of Oahu, then the Northern half of Oahu, and began to deliver large amounts of heavy rain. Due to the slow moving nature of this weather system, enormous rain amounts accumulated in a very short time frame. At approximately 1000 pm HST, stream levels rose above flood thresholds and reservoirs filled up. From 1100 pm HST to 200 AM HST, a massive flood wave surged through the North Shore. Multiple roads became impassable across Northern Oahu, Haleiwa became completely cut off, and multiple homes and many cars got swept away in flood waters. Many homes and cars that were not washed away were heavily damaged beyond use or habitation. Businesses were also flooded, and an ambulance was reportedly lost due to the rising flood waters. With the help of police officers, the crew escaped the ambulance through the side window. There were over 200 rescues by first responders and residents, these rescues included rescues from police, fire, national guard, and lifeguards. 10 people were taken to the ER with non critical hypothermia due to prolonged exposure to the flood waters. Much of the destruction and rescues were reported in Waialua and Haleiwa. However the damage spread to the northeast section of Oahu where multiple homes were inundated with flood waters. Over 171 million dollars in damages were reported across Oahu's public schools from the Department of Education and officials put the total costs of the storm island wide above 1 billion dollars .
April 2026Flash FloodKawela Bay$200,000Heavy rainfall led to multiple flooding impacts across the northern half of Oahu. Police reported to emergency management that Ke Nui Road just west of Ehukai Beach Park |was impassable due to flooding. Wilikina Dr was closed at Kaukonahua Rd due to flooding. Large boulders on Kamehameha Highway was closed the road in both directions.
May 2021Heavy RainKawela Bay-no account filed
October 2020Heavy RainKawela Bay-no account filed
September 2019Heavy RainKawela Bay-no account filed
March 2014Heavy RainKawela Bay-no account filed
January 2013Heavy RainKawela Bay-no account filed
November 2013Heavy RainKawela Bay-no account filed
November 2013Heavy RainKawela Bay-no account filed
November 2013Heavy RainKawela Bay-no account filed
February 2012Heavy RainKawela Bay-no account filed
May 2011Heavy RainKawela Bay-no account filed
January 2010Heavy RainKawela Bay-no account filed
December 2010Heavy RainKawela Bay-no account filed
October 2008Heavy RainKawela Bay-no account filed
November 2008Heavy RainKawela Bay-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
Kawela0.7 miles13
Marconi1.3 miles13
Waialeʻe1.8 miles13
Kahuku3.1 miles13
Sunset Beach3.4 miles13
Pūpūkea4.0 miles13
Waimea5.2 miles13
Lāʻie5.5 miles13

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 Kawela BayAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2607892The 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 1867256. 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.

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.