October 2026

After a summer of storms, power outages, fallen trees and repeated warnings, it is understandable that many of us are experiencing a little disaster fatigue. We cannot spend every day worrying about the next hurricane or flood. But we can use the quieter periods between emergencies to learn, improve and prepare more intelligently.

 

That means keeping promising new ideas on our radar.  Across the country, communities are testing new technologies that could help us understand and manage flooding before it becomes an emergency.

• Hawaiʻi-based Hohonu, for example, is expanding the use of relatively low-cost water-level sensors and real-time monitoring.

• Closer to home, Oceanit is developing AI tools that can help the State Department of Transportation search and analyze thousands of pages of infrastructure studies—potentially uncovering solutions, recommendations and connections buried in decades of reports.

 

Not every new technology will be right for Hawaiʻi. But some may deserve small-scale testing in places like the Ala Wai Watershed.

 

In coming months, we’ll highlight Resilience Innovations to Watch—practical ideas that could help our neighborhoods, government agencies, researchers and businesses work together to better understand risks, share information and steadily strengthen our communities.

 

Resilience is continuous community improvement — not continuous emergency preparedness.

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Mahalo,

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Carol Fukunaga

​State Senator, District 11​