A fire gutted the main county building at the Lihue Civic Center on Kauai, knocking out walk-in government services just as the island is recovering from Hurricane Lowell.

• The DMV, finance department, planning, building permits, and property tax assessment are all shut down.
• The blaze destroyed the computer systems holding property records and phone lines, so even simple paperwork is stuck.
• Engineers think the building cannot be saved and will have to be torn down and rebuilt.
• A rebuild would take two years — six months of design, 18 months of construction if nothing goes wrong.
• Emergency calls and field work like trash pickup are still running normally.

Outlook: County officials are hunting for a temporary site while in-person services stay closed and residents are told to expect delays.