Officials at Kula Hospital are continuing to evaluate the damage from recent storms that forced about 102 residents and patients to be evacuated last month to alternative facilities in Maui County and on Oahu.

Operated by Maui Health, the hospital sits on land leased by the state. Kula Hospital closed March 14 after suffering significant water damage. The Kula Primary Care Clinic is continuing to provide services while the hospital’s emergency department is sidelined.

According to Maui Health, nine long-term adult and child patients with developmental disabilities in a separate building known as Hale Makamae have been transferred to other facilities. Maui Health also operates Maui Memorial Medical Center and Lanai Community Hospital in addition to the Kula Hospital and Kula Clinic.

“It’s devastating to our residents, because to them it was home,” Maui Health CEO Lynn Fulton said.

Fulton added that it’s also been devastating for the staff, some of whom have been there for generations, “so it is a (time of) a grieving for everyone that’s involved.”

The closure was a result of last month’s kona storms in back-to-back weeks, which caused water intrusion and damage across several areas of the Kula Hospital facility.

Initial assessments have found significant damage to the main hospital building, including all five floors, which house the emergency department, long-term care unit and the short-term rehab unit.

Maui Health spokesperson Mahie Wong said a number of entities are gathering information to make assessments, including certified environmental and safety experts, insurance agencies and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“Until assessments are complete and we have a full understanding of the damage, we are not able to provide a timeline, next steps or any final decisions,” Wong said.

She said patients and residents have been relocated to appropriate care settings where their care continues without interruption.

Fulton said that during the first March storm, the hospital saw huge amounts of water and high wind gusts of 90 to 110 mph. The activity area on the fifth-floor balcony had streams of water pouring down the south side of the building near Hale Makamae.

“We quickly saw that the damage was far beyond what we could do on a local level,” she said.

“You could see the bubbles starting to form on the walls because of all that water.”

She said engineers recommended vacating the building, Hale Makamae and the emergency department pending a full evaluation.

Kula Hospital was built in 1910 as a sanitarium facility for tuberculosis patients. It was later turned into a multi-purpose facility.

Fulton said fixing Kula Hospital will likely take a long time.

“We need everybody to rest up. This is a marathon, not a sprint,” she said.