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Advertiser Staff
A powerful high-pressure system generated heavy wind that knocked down trees, blew shingles off roofs and cut power in many Island communities yesterday and today.
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| A downpour in Waikiki doused this family visiting form Yokohama City, Japan: Takaji Akaike (pushing 18-month-old Kirara in a stroller) followed by wife Yoko and son Hikaru.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser |
Gusts blew to more than 50 mph in several locations and rain lashed leeward areas on several islands. The high-pressure system and winds were expected to weaken by the weekend.
John Lewis today described the gusting winds swirling through Waianae Valley as “bad, real bad.”
“Other than a hurricane, it’s the worst I’ve seen here,” said Lewis, a police sergeant who has lived in Waianae for 28 years.
“I lost shingles off my house roof and the plumeria tree in my backyard. Things are blowing all over the place.”
Gusting winds since yesterday morning also played havoc with electrical lines on O'ahu, cutting off power to thousands of Hawaiian Electric Co. customers.
“The outages are being caused by the gusting, shifting winds combined with moisture,” Heco spokesman Fred Kobashikawa said.
Repair crews were still working at 8 a.m. today on restoring power to about 50 customers on Round Top Drive, who have been without electricity since 10 p.m. yesterday.
A falling tree dislodged power lines, causing the Tantalus outage, Kobashikawa said.
Heco crews yesterday replaced a fallen pole on Farrington Highway near Makua Cave and dealt with outages in Maili, Moiliili, Pohakupu, McCully, Kalihi, Wahiawa and Waipahu.
The Kalihi outage from 3:55 to 4:48 p.m. affected 6,500 customers from Kalihi Valley to Sand Island, said Kobashikawa.
An 18-minute outage in Wahiawa that started at 4 p.m. affected 2,500 customers and 1,500 customers in sections of Waipahu were without power from 4:39-5:41 p.m.
Throughout yesterday and last night, repair crews also responded to about a hundred outages affecting individual homes, Kobashikawa said.
Winds diminishing
National Weather Service lead forecaster Tim Craig said today that intensity of the tradewinds is decreasing. “It should drop off over the next 24- to 48 hours giving us a better weekend,” Craig said.
Most of the power failures were brief. "It started last night, and we’ve had at least 15 different outages," " said Hawaiian Electric Co. spokesman Fred Kobashikawa.
The National Weather Service issued a high-wind advisory for all islands yesterday afternoon because of wind up to 40 mph and gusts up to 50 mph.
A wind advisory means residents should be prepared for strong winds and bring in lawn chairs and other items. A wind warning is issued for sustained gale-force winds of 40 mph.
Power outages reported
O‘ahu as residents reported power failures throughout the day yesterday. The largest area affected was Kalihi, where 6,500 customers from Kalihi Valley to Sand Island were left in the dark at 3:55 p.m. Power was restored at 4:48, Kobashikawa said.
Other O‘ahu power failures were reported in Round Top, Salt Lake, Pauoa, Ma‘ili, Mo‘ili‘ili, Pali Lookout, Pohakupu, ‘Ewa, Kaimuki, McCully, Wahiawa and Waipahu. They lasted from 16 minutes to an hour and a half. A utility pole carrying a 12-kilovolt line near Makua Cave on O‘ahu blew down, but Kobashikawa said crews were able to replace it without cutting power.
There were many reports of felled trees. The trees blocked roadways in several areas of O‘ahu including Tantalus, downtown Honolulu and Waikiki yesterday, police said. Fallen trees were also reported in Kalihi and near the Pali Lookout. Honolulu Zoo was closed because of the blustery weather.
On Ke‘eaumoku Street, roofing material from a building broke off and struck a car in the parking lot of the Like Like Drive Inn, said Like Like manager David Akiyoshi, who reported that no one was injured.
Neighbor Islands impacted
Electrical service was interrupted on Kaua‘i, the Big Island and Maui as well.
Gale warnings were raised for all channels, and Rosendal said the ‘Alenuihaha Channel between Maui and the Big Island was particularly windy. Areas at the edges of the channel — like Ma‘alaea on Maui, Kaho‘olawe and Kawaihae on Hawai‘i, all had gusts into the high 40s.
The highest elevation areas — the mountaintops of Maui and the Big Island — were not particularly windy, Rosendal said.
On Maui, the trouble began at 4:48 a.m. yesterday, when gusts toppled five utility poles in Lahaina. Maui Electric Co. operations superintendent Herb Glassen said grading done around two of the poles on the Pioneer Mill cane haul road removed soil that helped keep them in place. The two poles toppled, knocking down three others and severing power to parts of Lahaina and Ka‘anapali.
Electricity was restored within an hour, but minutes later, the lights went out again when a palm frond blew onto a power line on Front Street, causing a half-hour outage from Lahaina to nearby Wahikuli.
Maui Electric crews responded to three more wind-related outages in West Maui and one in remote Kahakuloa, where only three homes were affected. Wind-blown debris caused at least two failures in the Upcountry area later in the afternoon.
On the Big Island, wind caused a mounting on an insulator to break on the 69-kilovolt transmission line between Waimea and Kawaihae at 2:54 p.m. yesterday.
Hawaii Electric Light Co. spokesman Jay Ignacio said the half-hour outage affected 1,777 customers in Waimea town and at Kohala Ranch.
The Big Island continued to draw most of the rainfall in the state. Ka‘u, Pahoa and Hilo experienced downpours through most of the day, but Civil Defense chief Bill Davis said there were no reports of damage.
"It’s awfully wet but the nice thing is that rain comes and goes and doesn’t sit over us for hours," Davis said.
The Hilo suburb of Waiakea Uka recorded 4.77 inches of rain in the 24-hour period that ended at 2 p.m. yesterday, and Pahoa had 3.8 inches.
Tuesday, heavy showers forced the closure of Highway 11 and the cancellation of classes at Ka‘u High School and Pahala and Na‘alehu elementary schools.
Snow fell on Mauna Kea as low as the 12,000-foot level.
Staff writers Rod Ohira, Jan TenBruggencate, Christie Wilson, Curtis Lum and Brandon Masuoka contributed to this report.
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