Boulders rumble past homes following rain
| • | 2 deaths on O'ahu linked to rainstorm |
| • | 'The water kept coming, over and over again' |
| • | City dealing with wastewater, sewage spills |
| • | It's been a fierce winter of weather discontent |
By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Staff Writer
Boulders rolled into two areas of East O'ahu yesterday after heavy rains.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
A boulder rolled into a Niu Valley neighborhood early yesterday morning and another tumbled off a hillside in Lanikai, narrowly missing homes.
Misha Han, 11, and his father, Byron, check out the large boulder that narrowly missed hitting their family's Niu Valley home.
Dorothy Chen was awakened at about 5:30 a.m. by a rumbling noise and a few moments later discovered a boulder about half the size of a van in the culvert behind her Anolani Street home.
"I heard a rumbling outside, looked up, saw something dark rolling by, and as I woke up I realized that it was another boulder," Chen said. "So we followed the path down to the culvert and saw a huge boulder there.
Chen said the boulder made its way across the street toward her home, clipped a rock wall and went through a hedge. Had it not been for the rock wall, the boulder likely would have taken out the bottom part of her home, she said.
Chen, who has lived at the home for nearly six years with her husband and three sons, said her family is lucky because the boulder didn't cause any major damage. But she said boulders fell in the area last November as well.
"We're a little concerned," she said. "We would like to be reassured that it's not going to happen again and someone's going to do something about the land across the street from us."
In Lanikai, a boulder off a hillside rolled through a vacant lot on Lama Place and stopped at a bunch of trees below, just about two feet from a home.
Noelani Fowler heard the boulder rolling next to her home in the early evening. Fire officials estimated the boulder weighed 3 to 4 tons.
"As soon as I heard it coming I knew what it was," Fowler said. "It was loud. ... You could feel the ground shaking."
Fowler said when previous owners of her home were living there a boulder fell into a swimming pool.
She said she's glad the boulder didn't cause any damage, but "I think our only concern is what else is up there."
Heavy rain has been known to loosen boulders and cause rockfalls across the island.
Downpours in January caused a rockslide in Palolo Valley and prompted state workers to remove a loosened boulder above Diamond Head Road. Rainy weather in December also caused boulders to fall in 'Aiea Heights.
In August 2002, Dara Rei Onishi, 26, was killed when a 5-ton boulder hit the Onishi home in Nu'uanu.
Reach Lynda Arakawa at 525-8070 or larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.
