In early September 2026, Hurricane Lowell made landfall on Kauai, the northwesternmost of Hawaii's main islands, reminding some 73,000 residents — as storms have always reminded island peoples — that the sea and sky hold a power no infrastructure fully tames. The storm swept through communities and natural systems alike, leaving officials and neighbors to begin the ancient, difficult work of counting what was lost and imagining what might be rebuilt. Kauai's dependence on tourism and agriculture made the blow land harder, as it so often does in places where the economy and the land are one and