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Kukuihaele, Hawaii

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1916 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Honokaa-Kukuihaele census division. It lies in ZIP code area 96727. It stands on Waiulili Stream. The Survey maps it on the Kukuihaele quadrangle. 281 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 730 feet above sea level.

Kukuihaele within Hawaii County

On record in Kukuihaele

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 within a mile 1 record

The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.

Population over time

2 figures

Kukuihaele fell from 336 to 281 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
2010336
2020281-55 (-16%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 11 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

5 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Kukuihaele between 1996 and 2012, burning about 60 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/undetermined5

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
23 September 2004Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCounty of Hawai'inot named
4 July 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCounty of Hawai'inot named
26 July 2004Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCounty of Hawai'inot named
1 February 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresState of HawaiiPUU LAPAKAHI 14MM
30 October 1996Missing data/not specified/undetermined50 acresState of Hawaiinot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Hawaii County

Storms near this place

13 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Kukuihaele in 13 storm reports between 2008 and 2026: 10 heavy rain, 3 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
August 2018Flash FloodKukuihaele$7,100,000Flash flooding continued for about two full days for much of the east half of the Big Island of Hawaii. From near Hawi in the north to the Kawa Flats area in the south, almost continuous heavy rain and thunderstorms associated with Hurricane Lane affected the isle. Flooding waters closed Bayfront Highway in Hilo, Highway 19 in multiple areas was closed due to debris flows and deep water on the roadway, flash flooding was ongoing in Waipio Valley for much of the time, Akoni Pule Highway became impassable near Hawi, Kaalaiki Road northeast of Naalehu was closed because of deep ponding, water rescues and evacuations were undetaken in the Hilo area at Kaiulani Street with water levels running at 5 feet, a resident in Keaau had to evacuate the home because of flooding on N. Wilder Road, a portion of Saddle Road upslope from Hilo was closed because of a debris flow and large rocks on the roadway, route 130 was closed from Keaau High School to Hawaiian Paradise Park due to flooding, and both lanes of Highway 11 in the Kawa Flats area were closed because of deep water over the roadway.
February 2026Heavy RainKukuihaele$40,000Hawaii County Civil Defense reported landslides along Waipio Valley Access Rd. The road was shut down as a result.
August 2015Flash FloodKukuihaele-Fourteen hikers were rescued by the Hawaii (Island) Fire Department after their way out of the Lalakea Trail system in Waipio Valley was blocked by high water after flash flooding.
December 2013Flash FloodKukuihaele-Muliwai Trail and Waimanu Valley Campground in North Kohala were closed due to flooding.
August 2021Heavy RainKukuihaele-no account filed
February 2018Heavy RainKukuihaele-no account filed
November 2017Heavy RainKukuihaele-no account filed
December 2013Heavy RainKukuihaele-no account filed
February 2012Heavy RainKukuihaele-no account filed
May 2011Heavy RainKukuihaele-no account filed
December 2011Heavy RainKukuihaele-no account filed
February 2009Heavy RainKukuihaele-no account filed
July 2008Heavy RainKukuihaele-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Hawaii 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
Waipiʻo1.5 miles11
Kaʻau2.2 miles11
Akona2.4 miles11
Kapulena2.6 miles11
Kawela4.5 miles14
Haina5.7 miles14
Honokaʻa6.1 miles14
Pāʻauhau7.5 miles14

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 KukuihaeleAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q971531The 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 361536. 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.