Kalihi flood victim praises state's handling of disaster
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Staff Writer
Gerald Moura still remembers the night he listened on the phone as a wall of water rushed past his Kalihi home.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
Moura was in California on his way to Las Vegas when his son Scott called to say water was streaming across the Ahuahu Place property.
Crews from TEC Trenchless Engineering Corp. are installing a pipe to replace the one that burst on Ahuahu Place in Kalihi Valley during a Feb. 27 storm.
"Oh my God, I've got to go," Scott said. Then the line went dead.
It was more than an hour before Gerald Moura learned that his family and house were safe, even though floodwater roared through his hillside lot, slammed cars into one other and sent tons of mud and debris into about a dozen neighborhood homes.
All that seemed far away yesterday, though, as Moura talked under a clear blue sky about the flood and the help he and others in the neighborhood have received since that Friday-night scare in February.
"I've got nothing but good things to say about what they've done. Civil Defense. The Department of Transportation. Even Gov. Lingle came by to see how we were doing," Moura said.
A private contractor, working for the state Transportation Department, yesterday still was replacing a drainage pipe that burst Feb. 27, diverting the water that wiped out a car, a boat, a lawn and a mailbox in front of Moura's home of 26 years.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
During a rainstorm, a sinkhole developed on Likelike Highway, sending too much water into the drainage pipe and causing it to crumble, said DOT spokesman Scott Ishikawa.
Kalihi resident Gerald Moura was on his way to Las Vegas when a huge rainstorm caused a drainage pipe from Likelike Highway to burst and flood his property with water, mud and debris.
The replacement pipe is being installed under the highway using a new technique called horizontal jacking, which essentially pushes the pipe into place without requiring excavation. The work is expected to cost $600,000, Ishikawa said.
Moura and his wife, Fran, cut short their trip and returned home the day after the flooding to help with the cleanup.
By yesterday morning, there was little beyond the construction crew and a high-water mark on a neighbor's concrete block home to mark the flood site.
The car was fixed, the boat was safe on high ground and the mailbox was upright again. Moura is waiting until the construction work is done to reseed the lawn.
"Everybody's been very concerned and helpful," he said. "I ask questions all the time, and they never get aggravated. The DOT engineer on the job has become like a cousin to me already."
The flood was part of an unusually wet rainy season this year. The National Weather Service said that as of yesterday, almost 17.5 inches of rain had fallen this year at Honolulu International Airport, more than twice the normal average.
Even so, Moura said he's not concerned about another flood.
"It was an unusual accident. It never happened before. I don't think it will happen again," he said.
Insurance company officials say heavy rain across the Islands this year has sparked hundreds of claims, although most homeowner policies do not cover flood damage.
Moura, a retired Pearl Harbor worker, said he's not worried now about dealing with the insurance issue.
"Maybe when it's all over and done, I'll file a claim," he said. "Right now, I'm just happy nothing serious happened to my home."
Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.
