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.
Population over time
2 figuresKawela 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 330 | |
| 2020 | 325 | -5 (-2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 13 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.
- 1954 USGS Kahuku quadrangle1:24000
- 1954 USGS Oahu quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Oahu quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Kahuku quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Oahu quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1970 USGS Oahu quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1977 USGS Kahuku quadrangle1:24000
- 1983 USGS Kahuku quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1998 USGS Kahuku quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
127 since 1992Regional 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/undetermined | 125 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
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 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | City and County of Honolulu | not named |
| 8 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | City and County of Honolulu | not named |
| 7 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | City and County of Honolulu | not named |
| 4 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | City and County of Honolulu | not named |
| 30 September 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | City and County of Honolulu | not named |
| 28 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | City and County of Honolulu | not named |
| 28 September 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | City and County of Honolulu | not named |
| 28 September 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | City and County of Honolulu | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
16 since 2008Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2026 | Flash Flood | Kawela Bay | $1,000,000,000 | At 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 2026 | Flash Flood | Kawela Bay | $200,000 | Heavy 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 2021 | Heavy Rain | Kawela Bay | - | no account filed |
| October 2020 | Heavy Rain | Kawela Bay | - | no account filed |
| September 2019 | Heavy Rain | Kawela Bay | - | no account filed |
| March 2014 | Heavy Rain | Kawela Bay | - | no account filed |
| January 2013 | Heavy Rain | Kawela Bay | - | no account filed |
| November 2013 | Heavy Rain | Kawela Bay | - | no account filed |
| November 2013 | Heavy Rain | Kawela Bay | - | no account filed |
| November 2013 | Heavy Rain | Kawela Bay | - | no account filed |
| February 2012 | Heavy Rain | Kawela Bay | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Heavy Rain | Kawela Bay | - | no account filed |
| January 2010 | Heavy Rain | Kawela Bay | - | no account filed |
| December 2010 | Heavy Rain | Kawela Bay | - | no account filed |
| October 2008 | Heavy Rain | Kawela Bay | - | no account filed |
| November 2008 | Heavy Rain | Kawela Bay | - | 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.
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 Bay | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2607892 | 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 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.








