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.
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.
- James M. Hind Houselisted 1994 · 0.7 miles away
Population over time
2 figuresKukuihaele 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 336 | |
| 2020 | 281 | -55 (-16%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 11 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.
- 1916 USGS Waipio quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1954 USGS Hawaii North quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Hawaii North quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Hawaii North quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1975 USGS Hawaii quadrangle1:250000
- 1980 USGS Hawaii County Sheet 1 quadrangle1:100000
- 1995 USGS Kukuihaele quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
5 since 1996Regional 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/undetermined | 5 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | County of Hawai'i | not named |
| 4 July 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | County of Hawai'i | not named |
| 26 July 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | County of Hawai'i | not named |
| 1 February 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 acres | State of Hawaii | PUU LAPAKAHI 14MM |
| 30 October 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 acres | State of Hawaii | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
13 since 2008Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2018 | Flash Flood | Kukuihaele | $7,100,000 | Flash 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 2026 | Heavy Rain | Kukuihaele | $40,000 | Hawaii County Civil Defense reported landslides along Waipio Valley Access Rd. The road was shut down as a result. |
| August 2015 | Flash Flood | Kukuihaele | - | 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 2013 | Flash Flood | Kukuihaele | - | Muliwai Trail and Waimanu Valley Campground in North Kohala were closed due to flooding. |
| August 2021 | Heavy Rain | Kukuihaele | - | no account filed |
| February 2018 | Heavy Rain | Kukuihaele | - | no account filed |
| November 2017 | Heavy Rain | Kukuihaele | - | no account filed |
| December 2013 | Heavy Rain | Kukuihaele | - | no account filed |
| February 2012 | Heavy Rain | Kukuihaele | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Heavy Rain | Kukuihaele | - | no account filed |
| December 2011 | Heavy Rain | Kukuihaele | - | no account filed |
| February 2009 | Heavy Rain | Kukuihaele | - | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Heavy Rain | Kukuihaele | - | 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 Kukuihaele | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q971531 | 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 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.






