Update: 4 p.m.
Power has been restored to Olinda and Haleakala, and Department of Water Supply pumps are currently refilling tanks in upper Kula, according to power and water officials at about 4 p.m. Tuesday.
A fallen tree had brought down power lines in Olinda before 9 p.m. Monday, leaving approximately 250 customers without electricity and disabling Department of Water Supply pumps to push water uphill to the upper Kula storage tanks.
Although repairs to power lines had been completed by 2 p.m. Tuesday, Maui Electric Co. was unable to re-energize lines until repairs are made to telephone and cable services, said Kau'i Awai-Dickson, the utility's spokeswoman.
Customers on the Department of Water Supply's upper Kula waterline were asked to conserve water because of the Olinda area power outage. The loss of electricity shut down booster pumps, which push water up to the upper Kula storage tanks.
Residents were asked to use water only as needed for health and safety purposes to allow water to be conserved until power is restored to the booster pumps and water levels in the storage tanks are brought back to safe levels.
At about 3:45 p.m., Jacky Takakura, administrative officer for the water department, reported that all pumps were running and will be pumping for the rest of the night to catch up.
"It's possible some customers may experience low water pressure tonight," she said in an email.
Also on Tuesday afternoon, power was out to the summit of Haleakala, Awai-Dickson said.
The time of the power outage was not immediately available and information on what happened was difficult to obtain, she said, because MECO crews needed to hike to a gulch to work on the problem.
