Here's a crazy video of an entire condo in N Kihei/Sugar Beach being destroyed.


I've been in building inspections for 25+ years and from what I see on the video I can't imagine any part of the building is salvageable. Even the rear areas that don't look too bad off show signs of movement that is unlikely to be correctable.

I actually thought it was smart construction being elevated and framed. I've owned and worked extensively on another nearby building during past floods. It's slab on grade and while the flooding is worse, the overall resilience to water collection is apparently better. It's also worth noting that the wood framing on the building linked above was in rough shape. I toured a unit there a few years ago and the termite damage everywhere was pretty extensive. I didn't crawl under but if it's anything like I could see around the edges it was bad off. Certainly doesn't help the building resist all the forces from the water and wind. I'd make an educated guess that many of the wood posts were substantially weakened. AOAO wasn't doing good keeping up the exterior siding/trim, stairs, railings, etc. I doubt they were doing inspections and replacement of the understructure.

I'm flying in at the end of the week and am sure I'll be busy.