For the second time in less than two years, a storm packing high winds shut down the Wai'anae Coast, leaving its long-suffering residents and businesses once again stranded, frustrated, without power and with few options.

It's yet another sobering reminder of the necessity for sensible, long-term solutions to the area's isolation and its lack of proper infrastructure.

The storms last week caused the same problem that has plagued the area for years: the shutdown of Farrington Highway, the only public route in and out of the Leeward Coast.

In this case, the culprit was a familiar one: more than a dozen utility poles toppled by high winds in Nanakuli.

The same thing happened — in the same area — in March 2006, when high winds knocked down 13 power poles, which crashed on moving vehicles, trapping people in their cars as live wires sparked around them.

At the time, a Hawaiian Electric Co. spokeswoman described the incident as "a rare and unusual circumstance" for poles built to withstand winds up to 80 mph.

It would appear that the rare circumstance is becoming more common.

Last week, as HECO employees worked 24/7 to replace poles for the second time in less than two years, traffic clogged the highway; in one case, it took a driver four hours to travel 19 miles to see her doctor.

It also raises some familiar questions: What will happen to isolated areas such as Wai'anae in the event of a real disaster, like a hurricane? Will HECO's poles collapse again? Will ambulances and other emergency vehicles be able to reach their destinations quickly? Will lack of power hamper residents' ability to get food and water? All of these issues are key to public safety, particularly during a major disaster.

While there has been some progress, solutions are still nowhere near complete.

HECO had planned to reinforce its utility poles after the 2006 incident, but unfortunately could not complete the job before last week's storms.

So new poles that are thicker and stronger were installed. Let's hope that next time, they'll stand up to the strong winds. But even so, other options such as underground lines deserve a more serious look.

Meanwhile, the long-awaited and trouble-plagued emergency bypass route through the back roads of the Wai'anae Coast remains unfinished and unusable, although the city hopes to complete the last leg as early as next year.

The only current option is the military-controlled Kolekole Pass, a twisting four-mile route ill-suited for regular use; for safety reasons, it can't handle heavy commercial vehicles.

The chair of the Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board, Patty Teruya, wants to see a coordinated emergency plan enacted by the state, city and HECO in the event of a major disaster.

That's a good idea, because residents of the Wai'anae Coast have coped with too many disasters.