Survivors would say they heard the rumble first, then snapping tree limbs as the floodwaters approached like a brown, liquid freight train.
Weeks of heavy rain had proved too much for the 116-year-old Kaloko Reservoir and its earthen dam. When it breached early on March 14, 2006, the torrent of water it sent down Wailapa Stream valley — nearly 400 million gallons — destroyed property, homes and lives.
Seven people were killed, including members of a wedding party, and a 2-year-old boy and his parents. Two homes were destroyed, scoured off the landscape. Damage was estimated in the millions of dollars.
"It sounded like 10 jet engines coming at us," said Olivia Gulish, who lived on nearby Wailapa Road. "You couldn't hear yourself talk."
The rush of water stripped the forested slopes of Wailapa bare. Driving hundreds of whole trees before it, it swept through the smaller Morita Reservoir, crashed into and washed over Kuhio Highway. The wave rumbled through the Wailapa subdivision, where all homes were built outside the designated flood zone although many were flooded anyway.
Water covered a 100-yard swath of Kuhio Highway near the vicinity of Wailapa Road. Hundreds of trees littered the highway. Dennis Barretto was on the highway when an 8-foot wall of water surrounded his car. He saw telephone poles crumbling to the ground.
"It was like a tsunami," Barretto said.
The draining floodwaters left thousands of dead fish, chickens and other animals amid the mud and debris, which subsequently became a breeding ground for rats and mosquitoes.
The catastrophic failure of the Kaua'i dam stunned and angered the community as well as state and county officials. After touring the area by helicopter the next day, Gov. Linda Lingle made it clear to residents that someone would be held responsible.
