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Ulupalakua Ranch was “smashed” by Tropical Storm Iselle on Friday morning, with “well over a hundred trees” crashing down on buildings, fences and water systems and causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage, ranch President Sumner Erdman said.

“When I say hundreds of trees, it’s hundreds of trees,” Erdman said via phone Friday afternoon. “And that’s only what we can see. We haven’t been a few miles past headquarters.”

The Upcountry ranch was hit by winds of at least 80 mph from around 6 to 9 a.m., causing 100-foot eucalyptus trees to fall down like “toothpicks,” Erdman said. One stretch saw 25 of the giant trees fall within one hour, he said.

“I’ve lived through a bunch of storms in over 40 years at Ulupalakua, but I’ve never seen anything to even make me think this morning was possible,” he said. “The trees were just sheared off and you could see clear above the ridge line.”

Among the buildings that were destroyed in the heavy winds and falling trees Friday was a sheep- shearing shed about 40 feet long by 40 feet wide. A tree about 10 feet in diameter crashed down and destroyed the shed that housed one of the ranch’s sheepdogs. It was unscathed.

“We had to dig her out,” Erdman said. “How that dog lived is phenomenal.”

A large warehouse used to house equipment and vehicles also was destroyed in the storm – momentarily lifting up a foot off the ground before collapsing onto itself, ranch hand Ryan Wendt said.

“We were just looking outside and could see the tin going, and the wind actually picked the building up,” said Wendt, who was with his wife, Melanie, at the time. “All of a sudden, it came crashing down. The building is huge, it’s probably 300 feet long and 100 feet wide. It’s an older building, but it’s still a steel structure, and it just collapsed.”

A native plant nursery was “extremely” damaged by the storm, and the roofs of a couple garages and the ranch’s stables were torn off by strong winds, Erdman said. The ranch’s water system is inoperable because water pipes were uprooted. Much of the ranch’s fence lines were destroyed.

Maui’s Winery at Ulupalakua Ranch also had 60 rows of vines ruined and sustained damage to its tasting room, Erdman said.

None of the 23 homes for employees and retirees on the ranch’s 18,000 acres was damaged in the storm. No injuries were reported.

“How my house did not get destroyed I don’t know,” Erdman said. “If you saw my yard and the size of the limbs that hit my house and didn’t go through the windows or roof, you wouldn’t believe it.”

Diana Azevedo, who lives in one of the homes with her husband, evacuated it when she heard the cracking of trees nearby. Azevedo said that she and her husband went to a neighbor’s house and saw the giant trees fall against her home and onto her driveway.

“We sat on the deck and watched the trees fall on my yard,” she said. “We sat there probably for three hours, and watched 100-foot pine trees blowing in the wind like palm trees.

“Luckily they didn’t come down because they would’ve crushed my house.”

Erdman said the “scariest part” of the early morning was when the roof of the stable ripped off and banged the office before flying over the top.

“We are all feeling very lucky, given everything we’ve seen and experienced today,” he said.

Piilani Highway was closed through the ranch due to downed trees, and the county’s Public Works Department was working with the ranch to move the large debris to clear a path, Erdman said. Some homes could not be accessed as late as 2 p.m., but all were cleared by 4 p.m.

The ranch lost electricity around 7 a.m. Friday, and Maui Electric Co. had restored power to some areas of the ranch, Erdman said. Backup generators will power the remaining homes.

“MECO has done a hell of a job getting power lines fixed, and they’re working very hard in getting the electricity restored,” he said.

Erdman said that today’s focus would primarily be on assessing damage and clearing critical areas.

“It’s been a long day, but we’ll get out back tomorrow,” he said Friday.

* Chris Sugidono can be reached at csugidono@mauinews.com.

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