Neighbor Island briefs

Advertiser Staff and News Services

Tools stolen from coffee company

Puna police are asking for the public's help investigating a theft at a Mountain View, Hawai'i coffee company.

More than $10,000 worth of tools and other items was stolen from the Kilauea Coffee Co. late Wednesday or early Thursday, police said.

Among the items were a submersible pump, red Honda EX 650 generator, cement mixer, drill and cutting torches.

Anyone with information is asked to call Officer Jeffrey Natividad at 966-5835 or 935-3311, or CrimeStoppers at 961-8300 or (808) 329-8181.

Hikers rescued after downpour

WAILUKU, Maui — Nearly two dozen hikers were rescued after being stranded when an afternoon downpour Friday swelled rivers and streams, Maui officials said.

Fourteen people were caught at the end of Uliano road in Hana at about 6 p.m. when a fast-running stream overflowed onto the roadway, covering it with as much as three feet of water.

Rescuers used ropes to get 12 people across the stream. Two others decided to stay with their car.

At about 7 p.m., a helicopter picked up two men stranded by the Honopou Stream in the Twin Falls area of Haiku, police said.

Earlier, in Waihe'e Valley, four hikers were rescued by helicopter and seven others were led to safety on foot after the stream rose.