At the Otake Store, it was dark yesterday morning. There still was no power.
And Wendell Toki, who lost almost everything in the recent Kona Low storms, was keeping track of one generator, which was being loaned out to run electric power tools that are helping families rebuild.
By about 12:30 p.m., the lights were finally back on in the store and a few residences, he told Aloha State Daily by phone Tuesday.
His house, which is part of Otake Camp, located off Farrington Highway in Waialua, is now in demolition condition. He also lost mamaki and plants he uses for food and medicine, plus 180 chickens in the flood.
On Monday, March 30, the sun was shining. Birds were chirping. Toki was standing in dried mud explaining how a green house slid parallel to the Kaukonahua Stream, past other residences and straight into homes that now sit vacant.
This house, which is located behind the Otake Store, slid off its foundation. (Katie Helland) 
Houses like this one are part of Otake Camp and were located along the Kaukonahua Stream. (Katie Helland) 
Flood waters caused this puzzle to peel. (Katie Helland)
A muddy puzzle
There are plans to rebuild, but the houses sit abandoned. Doors open. Inside, the floors hold mud thick with things: plastic bottles, a shoe here, a puzzle there.
The mud surrounds a chair in the middle of one of the rooms. It preserves handprints on the walls.
The community needs generators, lumber and food for workers, Toki said. He pauses at the front of the door of the house closest to the stream. Parts of the wall are missing, creating windows to the brown water below.
A nearby house has a desk covered in mud. It holds bright crayons, markers and paper flowers, and something there is not much of: color.
In the house next door, there bright puzzles on the wall. One — a pink and yellow jaguar — is peeling. Where the water was, the design is gone and only cardboard remains.
Many, including Toki, don’t have flood insurance.
A birthday to forget
Down the road, the military is helping farmers like Thy Cavan, who had about two acres of green papayas and bananas, and lost nearly everything in the flood.
Cavan remembers the day the storm hit because it was his birthday: Friday, March 20. The day he lost two cars, his home and the entire papaya crop.
“Lost almost everything,” he said. “Some bananas survived.”
Farmer Thy Cavan points to how high the water came when it flooded his home and crops. It covered his tractor, which is a total loss. (Katie Helland) 
Thy Cavan, a farmer at Otake Camp, points to where the water reached at his house. (Katie Helland | Aloha State Daily) 
Thy Cavan wears boots at Otake Camp as he stands near his tractor, which was a total loss. (Katie Helland) 
Thy Cavan grows green papayas and bananas on about two acres in Waialua. (Katie Helland)
Soldiers and airmen of the National Guard were deployed alongside the Navy to remove flood debris from Waialua. They helped Cavan shovel mud out of his house.
He stands next to a mud-covered blue tractor. It was a total loss. So was his generator. And his cell phone.
With a cigarette in hand, he pointed to a spot on a wood beam, which supports the roof over his tractor, to share how high the water got.
“About right here,” he said.
The line is above the steering wheel. It is higher than his shoulders.
It is also visible on the side of the house, where muddy water got nearly to the roof. When it receded, it left tracks on the top of the tractor, like a dried up mud flat.
Cavan realized he could not stay and went to the main road, where a rescue group picked him up. Now, he is staying with friends, and gets to his farm by walking or getting dropped off.
Without a car, he can’t travel easily. Two days ago, he started a GoFundMe asking for $3,000 to help rebuild. His top priorities are fixing the tractor and getting back wheels.
A new start
Back up the road, near the Otake Store, Toki points to the space upstairs where he will live while he puts together a new life. Toki also has a GoFundMe, which was set up by Nicole Correa, his hānai niece.
He is asking for $13,000 to rebuild and is imagining a shipping container as a home, with a deck built by a neighbor.
“I'm hardly home anyway,” he said. “Only sleep there, and then the rest of the days I'm working.”
Outside, the birds are still chirping. The sun beats down and Toki is reflecting on how to help farmers.
“They need local support,” he said. “More local support.”
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Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
