By Lou Cannon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 15, 1992; Page A3

HONOLULU, SEPT. 14—Residents of Kauai began to rebuild their homes and lives today as a round-the-clock air and sea lift brought food, water and supplies to the devastated island.

In an outpouring of support for their island neighbors, governments and relief agencies on the three other major Hawaiian islands ferried in generators, plastic sheeting, portable showers and bulldozers to help reconstruction efforts.

Military kitchens are providing meals to island residents, who had existed on meager supplies since Hurricane Iniki struck Friday, and about 7,000 homeless people are living in 14 shelters. Evaluation teams sent from Oahu by Gov. John Waihee (D) reported that island roads remain blocked by downed power and telegraph poles and palm fronds.

"There's no structure on the island that has not been affected by the storm," said Waihee, who estimated public and private damage at $1 billion.

Waihee praised the federal relief effort and said "we are probably the beneficiary" from the controversy about slow response of federal officials when Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida Aug. 24 and moved on to Louisiana.

Iniki claimed three lives, one here on lightly hit Oahu, and injured more than 100 people. Federal officials said 10,000 of Kauai's 21,000 homes and most of its 70 hotels were badly damaged.

But Waihee said damage to the hotels, concentrated on the south coast, generally was limited to ground floors filled with water by the storm's tidal surge.

Light rain fell this morning on southern and eastern Kauai, but a major tropical storm that had been forecast broke up before reaching the island, according to officials here.

Thousands of tourists abandoned rental cars in fields or along roads and lined up at Lihue Airport, waiting patiently for free Hawaiian Airlines shuttles to take them off the island. Of 7,500 tourists on Kauai when Iniki struck, Waihee said, about half had been removed. The airport will open to normal traffic Tuesday, officials said.

In an effort to preserve the tourism that is the lifeblood of Hawaii's economy, airlines offered $25 fares to the big island of Hawaii or to Maui, and some hotel chains discounted rates for arriving tourists or those returning from Kauai.

On Kauai itself, the remaining tourists were seen as a hindrance to cleanup work. "The sooner they get them off, the better for the rest of us," said a local resident Sunday. He told a visiting reporter that his home had been "made a complete mess." A friendlier local shook hands with departing tourists and waved a homemade sign saying, "Come back in 2 years."

Kauai, home to 51,000 people, is known as "the garden island" because of its lush beauty, and was the site for the film "South Pacific."

But Kauai no longer is an island paradise.

Jan TenBruggencate, the Honolulu Advertiser correspondent on Kauai, reported that "tempers were growing short" among relief workers and government officials working day and night without sleep.

At the Koloa School emergency center, where 700 people were sheltered, water service stopped and toilets overflowed. The Advertiser account quoted Andrew Szasz, a University of California sociology professor, as saying children were running barefoot in "raw sewage." But authorities said water had been restored and toilets fixed at the shelter today.

All 2,800 utility poles on the island were damaged, authorities said, and power is unlikely to be restored fully for a month. The first emergency telephone service was restored today in the Lihue area, but placing calls to or from Kauai was difficult.

Because of damage to the poles and the island's microwave transmission system, state and military officials relied on sideband radios used during World War II. "It was the lowest-tech system we had, and it worked the best," said Barbara Hendrie, state civil defense spokeswoman.

Military police and state construction crews worked to clear roadways.

Army spokesman Bruce Jones said the USS Belleau Wood, an amphibious assault ship, had arrived with 27 trucks, 10 field kitchens, field showers and 300 soldiers. All told, according to Maj. Wayne Yushioka, spokesman for the Hawaiian National Guard, 3,000 active duty military personnel and 867 National Guard troops were on Kauai.

At the airport, departing tourists said they had been told that zebras and kangaroos housed on islands at the Kauai Westin hotel had survived. Tourists praised local residents and hotel personnel, and several admitted to having been terrified by Iniki.

"We didn't know what to expect, and then the roof started to shake," said Kevin McDonald of Boise, vacationing with his wife, Debbie. "It seemed to last forever."

Waihee said Kauai Mayor JoAnn Yukimura told him that the roof of her house was blown off. This was a common plight for Kauai residents, many of whom pitched tents today in the wreckage of what had been their homes and began rebuilding.