More than 200 homes, too many utility poles to count and half of the state’s papaya crop were damaged by Tropical Storm Iselle last week based on preliminary reports that provide an emerging big picture of devastation centered in Hawaii island’s Puna and Kau regions.

Damage assessment reports received as of Tuesday are still rough, and usually lack dollar value estimates, but it’s becoming clear that loss totals will be much greater than some observers initially imagined.

Local economist Paul Brewbaker of TZ Economics said his early ballpark estimate on damage from the tropical storm is between $148 million and $325 million.

One concentrated field of destruction was agriculture. Producers of flowers, macadamia nuts, coffee and papaya were hit hard by the high winds from Iselle.

"It’s bad," said Eric Weinert, general manager of Hawaii operations for Calavo Growers Inc., the largest exporter of local papayas to the mainland.

Weinert said half of all the papaya trees in the state probably were felled by the storm, causing close to $55 million in damage that includes lost sales and the cost to replant.

"We’re maybe looking at 35,000 trees that were damaged," he said.

Some farms suffered losses as high as 90 percent, while others — even farms in close proximity — experienced only 10 percent tree loss. Generally though, trees that were in a prime production stage and heavy with fruit were destroyed.

"They just snapped in half," Weinert said. "There are certain growers who are financially devastated."

Papaya trees for commercial farming in Hawaii typically have a 3-year life cycle, with the first year producing no fruit and the second year producing 70 percent of income. After the third year, the tree is cut down because it is too tall and to guard against disease.

Weinert, who attended a meeting among Hawaii island agriculture leaders Monday, said flower growers who use shade canopies to protect their fragile crops from being burned by the sun had about 75 acres of shade structures damaged, affecting about half the crop coverings.

The Edmund C. Olson Trust II, a major landowner and farm operator, lost about 2,000 macadamia nut trees and 1,500 coffee trees, according to trust land manager John Cross.

"The storm hit one of Hawaii’s most important regions for agriculture," Scott Enright, chairman of the state Board of Agriculture, said in a statement.

In the category of personal property, there were 230 damage assessment reports received by Hawaii County.

Nearly all of those reports were for homes, but most reports did not include a description of the severity of damage or a value.

Relatively few reports did have damage value estimates. In a sample of a dozen reports, damage values ranged from $1,000 to $66,000 and averaged $12,500.

At least 12 homes were listed as destroyed.

The assessments were made by the National Guard and the Hawaii County Office of Housing and Community Development, according to county spokesman Kevin Dayton.

There also have been 174 damage assessment reports for public infrastructure that include utility lines, culverts, bridges and trees blocking roads.

Seven damage assessments were filed for businesses.

Much of the infrastructure damage was from fallen trees blocking roads and broken utility poles.

Darren Pai, a Hawaii Electric Light Co. spokesman, said the damage is so extensive that the company doesn’t know how many poles and power lines are affected.

The company has mobilized 200 workers to restore power, including 22 electrical line crews, 14 tree trimming crews and 25 construction crews to dig holes for utility poles.

"We are devoting every available resource to this effort," Pai said in a written statement.

Hawaii Electric, a subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries, said it restored electric service to about 1,500 customers on Tuesday, and that an estimated 6,600 customers remain without power.

In some areas of Puna, utility damage is so severe that Hawaii Electric said it could take up to three weeks or even longer to restore power.

Pai said with response efforts ongoing the company is unable to speculate on the total cost of the restoration effort.

"Our focus is on safely restoring power for our customers," he said. "They’re having a very tough time and we need to get the power back for their families and businesses."

Dayton said the arrival of new damage reports has slowed in recent days, suggesting that most damaged property has been identified.

The next stage in the assessment process is for Federal Emergency Management Agency officials to join with Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (formerly State Civil Defense) officials to verify and refine the assessment reports, according to Shelly Kunishige, public information office for Hawaii Emergency Management.

That effort is expected to get underway Friday.

After the joint state-federal assessment work, Gov. Neil Abercrombie could request financial help from FEMA if damage qualifies for federal disaster assistance.

Prior FEMA aid awards included $1.1 million in grants and loans mainly for home repairs and temporary rental assistance in January 2009 about a month after storms and flooding on Oahu led to disaster assistance requests from 480 homeowners.

In December 2006, FEMA approved about $21 million in assistance about two months after earthquakes struck off Hawaii island. The assistance, which in part was provided by the U.S. Small Business Adminstration, was shared by 2,447 households and businesses.

Kunishige said FEMA assistance is generally awarded to cover uninsured losses.

For farmers reeling from losses due to Iselle, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency has disaster assistance programs that can help with debris removal, fence replacement and replanting.

Diane Ley, the executive director in Hawaii for the agency, said staff have been talking with farmers and plan to begin field visits Aug. 22.

"Hopefully we can help farmers who really need it and get businesses back into production," she said.

The state Department of Agriculture also has low-interest loans available to farmers who qualify, and will have a loan officer at each of two disaster assistance and recovery centers open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Hawaii island over the next several days.

One loan officer will be at the Pahoa Community Center Thursday and Friday, and one will be at the Mountain View Gym on Saturday and Sunday. Information for damage-related farm loans from the state also is available by calling 933-9975 in Hilo.

Loans of $25,000 or less have faster processing and approval times. Department officials urge farmers to bring photos of damage with them to the recovery centers.