Hold on to that umbrella: Two more days of rain
| • | Kailua sinkhole reappears |
By Mike Gordon and Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writers
The first winter storm was fast becoming a muddy memory today for much of the state, but parts of the Big Island and Maui were still under a flood watch.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
Rainfall was heavy yesterday, much of it on the Big Island. At Kapapala Ranch, more than 13 inches of rain fell during a 24-hour period that ended at 8 a.m. today.
Usually a sun-dappled drive, Kahala Avenue was a series of puddles yesterday as rain continued. There were no reports of major damage, but areas of O'ahu suffered power failures and disruption of telephone service.
On Maui, more than three inches fell at several locations.
Skies are expected to begin clearing statewide by Friday. On O'ahu the forecast calls for scattered showers through tomorrow with winds out of the southeast at 10 to 20 mph.
"The major threat seems to be over but we could see a few minor flare ups," Brad Fujii, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said today. "It's certainly not as heavy as yesterday."
Bill Davis, civil defense administrator for the Hawai'i County, said the island escaped serious damage.
"We had a lot of minor flooding in residential areas," he said. "We had a run on sand bags in the early evening and just before midnight."
Water was getting into homes in the Kamana and Waikea areas.
"We don't call it minor damage but if I was a homeowner, it would be major to me," he said. "But as far as roadways, we survived pretty well."
But the rain forced the Department of Education officials to close four Big Island schools: Ka'u High, Pahala Elementary and Naalehu Elementary and Intermediate schools.
Also, all schools on Molokai were closed for a second day.
The rain and gusty southerly wind kept fire department and Hawaiian Electric crews busy yesterday. The roofs of two Waimanalo homes were blown off early yesterday, and there were many calls about downed trees and lines.
About 9,000 HECO customers from Kane'ohe to Kahalu'u were without power from 7:50 to 8:25 last night. The failure, which included Windward Mall, was caused by the wet and windy weather, said spokesman Fred Kobashikawa.
Earlier in the evening, a power failure affected 6,200 Kailua residents and businesses. Electricity was knocked out at 5:26 p.m. and restored about a half-hour later.
"It's calmed down quite a bit," Kobashikawa said today. "Our crews are still working on individual outages to individual homes. We have about 20 of them throughout the island."
Some had been without power for up to 15 hours, he said.
Water damage to a telephone cable caused a cutoff in service about 6:30 a.m. yesterday to more than 1,800 phone lines in East Honolulu. Verizon Hawai'i spokeswoman Ann Nishida said service was restored this morning.
Most of O'ahu received a good soaking yesterday, including Leeward areas that had at least 2 inches of rain.
"They needed it," Bob Farrell said. "It's really nice. Everything should turn green."
