Soaked Islands face more stormy weather
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
Scott Morifuji • The Honolulu Advertiser
The storm that marched across the state yesterday was taking a heavy toll last night, closing part of Likelike Highway and wreaking havoc on a Kalihi Valley neighborhood.
A Jeep and a small boat, left, were pushed into a truck at 1920 Ahuahu Place in Kalihi Valley as a result of heavy rain last night. Water and mud swept into at least six hillside homes in the area, leaving a woman slightly injured.
Officials also last night were also looking for a woman who was swept out to sea at Waimea Bay as she and a group walked along the beach about midnight.
The National Weather Service had warned the public all week to prepare for severe weather, including winds up to 50 mph — and the storm delivered. Thundershowers flooded areas on Kaua'i, O'ahu and Maui, downing trees and power lines, and turning day to dusk beneath gloomy, cloud-laden skies.
The forecast calls for more showers and possibly thunderstorms this afternoon and scattered showers tonight, the weather service said. The rainy weather is expected to continue through Monday.
The Honolulu-bound lanes of Likelike Highway were closed late last night after a sinkhole opened up just outside the Kalihi side of Wilson Tunnel, police said. Traffic was being diverted to the H-3 Freeway.
A state road crew was being sent to see what could be done. It was not known how long the highway would be closed, police said. Police received the first report of the sinkhole at 10:55 p.m. and closed the road about midnight.
Also about midnight, the fire department reported a wave swept six people into the ocean at Waimea Beach Park. One remained missing at 12:30 a.m.
Rescue crews in boats and helicopters were searching for the missing person, a woman about 20 years old wearing blue jeans and a black sweater, according to Jeff Shon, of the fire department.
The group was apparently walking on the beach when a wave came up swept them away, Shon said. Waves were of substantial size last night, but the beach wasn't closed yesterday. Shon said conditions weren't favorable for a search last night, and he was unsure how long rescue efforts would continue.
Waves were forecast to as high as 30 feet today.
In Kalihi Valley a wall of flood water slammed cars into each other and sent tons of mud and debris into about a dozen homes.
City work crews remained on the scene late last night trying to clean up the mess. One woman off Kalihi Street was injured.
The American Red Cross was called to assist the families whose homes were severely damaged.
Scott Moura was at his home on 1920 Ahuahu Place shortly after 5 p.m. when he heard a thunderous noise.
"I heard water start coming down like crazy, like suddenly. I look out the window and I see two feet of water going across the road, and I look, where's my car? My car's gone and poles are coming down and then the Jeep. Boom, boom, piled over here," Moura said as he pointed to his Jeep, his 15-foot boat and his Honda sedan that were lodged against a truck.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
"I thought the house was going to come down," he added. "My god, the house was all shaking. It was like thunder. I'm pretty freaked out."
Bobby Fernandez, left, and Eric Davidson took a chance with their bodyboards and went surfing off Makaha in the waves produced when runoff from Makaha Stream burst through to the beach, creating a channel about 50 feet wide and 8 feet to 10 feet deep.
An investigation into the cause of the flooding was to be conducted. A damage estimate was not available.
Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Capt. Kenison Tejada said the Ahuahu incident was the worst of the more than 60 weather-related calls yesterday.
Tejada said the storm water apparently was being held near Likelike Highway, which runs above Ahuahu Place. For some reason, he said, the drainage system failed.
"It moved a half-a-dozen cars near the top of the road," Tejada said. "At the bottom it took a lot of the mud, took some cars, pushed them near the houses and just completely took all of the debris down to the very lowest houses."
While crews cleaned the debris and firefighters inspected the damage, a second wall of water rushed down Ahuahu and into a lane that leads off Kalihi Street. Firefighters had to rescue one woman who was unable to escape.
"She was trying to bring her father up the driveway," Tejada said. "We actually had to go and grab her and we had to form a human chain with the firefighters to bring her up all of the way." The woman suffered a leg injury.
Sharon Cabrera was cooking at her 1934 Ahuahu Place home when she saw the river of water. She said the water started to rise and poured into her living room window.
"We noticed that our car started moving," Cabrera said. "Everything started flowing down the road."
She said her home was filled with water and her garage covered with mud. A relative's van was pushed up a hill of mud.
Also last night, a school bus jumped the median on the H-1 Freeway near the Waiawa overpass, snarling traffic in both directions. No one was seriously injured.
Damage from the storm began in the morning and mounted throughout the day.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Leeward Coast residents felt the winds at about 8 a.m.
Kekai Kaleleiki, foreground, joined Kellen and Ivan Carreiro to clear a drainage ditch on the side of Farrington Highway that was clogged, causing flood waters to back up onto the property of Donna Carreiro. Few areas on O'ahu yesterday escaped the torrential rains. The weather service said the heavy rains are expected to last until Monday.
"It's blasting right now," lifeguard Kelly Krohne said as the front arrived. "Southwesterlies, 25 mph-plus and 4- to 8-foot seas."
On the other side of the Wai'anae Mountains in Hale'iwa, Jameson's By the Sea employee Stacy Angros said power lines were whipped by the wind. She called the weather "treacherous."
"It's like, raining sparks," she said. "It's like fireworks."
"Parts of Kamehameha Highway in Hale'iwa town are under water," said North Shore resident Henry Curtis at midday. "It's a massive flood."
At 8:15 a.m., a line of heavy showers three miles west of Ka'ena Point prompted forecasters to issue an urban and small-stream flood advisory through 11:20 a.m. By 8:55 a.m., O'ahu residents were given a flash-flood warning through noon.
Curtis, whose home is in Waialua, said his neighborhood had begun to flood by 10 a.m.
"The rain is coming in horizontally," Curtis said. "We've had to put garbage bags over every window facing the storm. We have lightning and thunder and torrential downpours."
The storm caused some anxious moments for passengers and crew on a Honolulu-bound Hawaiian Airlines flight from Portland.
Flight 25 was about 12 miles from Kona on the Big Island when it was struck by lightning at about 2:50 p.m., Kona police said. The lightning hit the Boeing 767's nose, causing the instrument panel to malfunction, police said.
The flight, with 270 passengers, made an emergency landing at the Kona International Airport at 2:56 p.m. There were no reports of injuries.
Hawaiian Airlines officials could not be reached for comment.
In Kailua, heavy rains caused landslides, sewer backups and flooding that led to road and lane closures in the late morning and early afternoon.
Kailua-bound traffic on Pali Highway was blocked around 11 a.m. when a tree fell onto the road in a landslide 100 yards on the Kailua side of the second tunnel.
Crews worked in the pouring rain to remove debris that was cleared by early afternoon.
Another landslide shut down the Kailua-bound lanes of Kailua Road near the entrance to the town at mid-afternoon.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
The Lanikai end of Kailua Beach Park was flooded and sewage spill warning signs were placed along Ka'elepulu Stream, which empties at the beach park.
Flooding left a car stalled on Aweoweo Street in Waialua yesterday. Heavy rains and high winds also caused many traffic jams and power outages. A flash-flood warning was in effect for most of yesterday.
Floodwaters from the stream created a 60-foot-wide channel to the ocean carrying tons of sand with it and creating a sandbar at the mouth of the stream.
The rain was nonstop in Waiahole Valley, said John Reppun, a resident. Waiahole Stream was raging and the winds were threatening to rip the roof from his home, Reppun said.
"The gusts are scary, 50 mph easy and coming from every direction," he said last night, adding that he feels safe for now but not if the roof goes.
Also last night, fire rescue crews airlifted a man who had injured his ankle while hiking above Camp Erdman in Mokule'ia. Tejada said the man, in his 20s, was among about 10 people who went for a hike yesterday.
Two women with the man also were stranded on a ledge and had to be removed by helicopter, Tejada said. He said he did not know why the group went hiking on such a stormy day.
On Kaua'i, the rain gauge atop Wai'ale'ale measured 9.62 inches in the 24 hours ending at 5 p.m., nearly matched by a 8.68-inch reading at Koke'e State Park. Both are high elevation sites. Otherwise, the entire island had significant rainfall — from 2 inches to more than 5 inches during the period — most of it overnight. Wailua on the east side had 4.82 inches and 'Oma'o on the west had 5.33 inches.
The Kaua'i Island Utility Co-op reported a lightning strike overnight on its power distribution system between 'Ele'ele and Lihu'e, and minor power outages in Kapa'a, Lihu'e, Lawa'i and Wailua Homesteads.
On Maui, Honoapi'ilani Highway in the Waikapu area was closed at about 5:30 p.m. after strong winds knocked down 10 utility poles, causing power outages in the area.
Maui Civil Defense reported flooding in the Kahului area on Dairy Road and Hana Highway, as well as in South Kihei and Mokulele Highway. Those roads were not closed.
On the Big Island, winds caused two major power outages, affecting thousands of customers in South Kohala and South Kona. Gusts ripped the roof off at least one Hilo-area home, though no injuries were reported.
Advertiser staff writers Mike Gordon, Eloise Aguiar, Will Hoover, Jan TenBruggencate and Timothy Hurley contributed to this report.
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Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
Flooding left a car stalled on Aweoweo Street in Waialua yesterday. Heavy rains and high winds also caused many traffic jams and power outages. A flash-flood warning was in effect for most of yesterday.
