Wind-toppled Kaua'i palm kills man
By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Staff Writer
A Lihu'e man was killed yesterday when he was struck by part of a tree that broke off as high winds and rain hit Kaua'i.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
Vicente Tablizo, 61, an employee of Wailua Golf Course, was picking up coconut fronds that had been scattered around the golf course when the top of a coconut tree landed on him.
Kurt Olsen leaps for the sidewalk on King Street in Honolulu.
Tablizo's death was by far the most serious effect of a storm that brought gusty winds to the island chain from Kaua'i to Maui and sudden showers, some of them intense, to Kaua'i and O'ahu.
Aloha and Hawaiian airlines experienced delays of much as an hour for several of their interisland flights because of the poor weather.
Gusty conditions were forecast around the state again today, and O'ahu can expect more showers before skies begin clearing, the National Weather Service said.
"Right now it appears the raincloud pattern is slowly heading toward Maui and the Big Island," said lead forecaster Roy Matsuda. "But while the entire system is slowly nudging along, the individual showers moving over O'ahu are coming and going rapidly."
No flash flood advisories were in effect last night. Pacific Palisades collected about 1.6 inches of rain over the 24-hour period ending at 2 p.m. yesterday. Nearly all other areas measured under an inch of rain, according to the weather service.
The forecast today is for 15- to 30-mph winds with locally higher gusts, with a small-craft advisory for coastal waters and a gale warning (35 knots) for channel areas.
