Islands drenched by heavy rains
Advertiser Staff
Windy, rainy weather drenched the Islands Thursday and yesterday, producing isolated minor flooding, and, in one case, giving an O'ahu family the fright of their lives.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
A cold front brought strong northeasterly winds and as much as 6 inches of rain Thursday night on parts of O'ahu. It passed over Maui yesterday morning and hit the Big Island in the afternoon.
Daniel China of the Board of Water Supply inspects a boulder that rolled down a hillside on Malu Place, took out a fire hydrant and came to rest about 20 feet from a home.
On O'ahu, Kevin Kugiyama suspects rain is to blame for sending a 3-foot by 4-foot boulder tumbling down the ridge yesterday near Wilhelmina Rise and narrowly missing his home off Kilauea Avenue.
Kugiyama, 30, had just awakened at 7:45 a.m. when a rumbling began echoing through the house at 5373 Malu Place.
"My window overlooks the mountain," said Kugiyama, who works as a courier for a clinical laboratory company. "I heard a thundering noise, and when I looked up the rock was coming down the mountain already ... it sounded like a horse galloping, but louder."
It was headed straight for the house, and Kugiyama grabbed the phone and dialed 911. Luckily, the rock took a sudden turn and missed the house, going airborne over a car parked on the street and hitting the curb opposite the house.
The rock then took out a fire hydrant and bounced back across to Kugiyama's side of the street, hitting the garden wall at his next-door neighbor's house before it came to rest. Fire crews arrived about 15 minutes later to turn off the water to the hydrant, he said.
Elsewhere on O'ahu, the fallout was limited to fender-benders and minor flooding. The statewide forecast is for sunnier, warmer weather today with a high near 80.
The rainstorm dumped as much as 7 inches of rain on parts of Kaua'i on Thursday and yesterday, flooding roads around the island, and causing landslides. Flooding closed Kuhio Highway along the Hanalei River Thursday night, and communities islandwide reported isolated flooding.
On Maui, Wailuku and Kahului were drenched with almost 7 inches of rain from 2 a.m. to 2 p.m. yesterday, while Hana and Lana'i recorded about 5 inches during the same period. The rain continued all day and into the night without a break.
Classes were called off at 'Iao Intermediate School in Wailuku and officials closed Kanaha and Baldwin beach parks on the island's north shore because of flooding.
Some streets in Central Maui were flooded, but officials reported no major damage or highway closures.
The National Weather Service yesterday issued a winter storm warning for the summits and upper slopes of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island. The road to Mauna Kea was closed yesterday because of ice and snow, and Big Island Civil Defense discouraged people from going to the summits until tomorrow at the earliest.
The warning was issued after dangerous conditions, including below-freezing temperatures, snow, sleet and strong winds, were reported on the summits of both mountains.
