Rain restores lush scenery

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Staff Writer

You can see it in the lush hillsides and the free-flowing waterfalls, the plentiful rainbows and the freshly washed vistas.

Waterfalls cascaded Friday from the mountains along the Pali Highway. Recent heavy rain has replenished water supplies, but may not signal an end to Hawai'i's drought. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

"Everything's green. Isn't that amazing?" said Samantha Krager, an activities agent at Ma'alaea Harbor, whose office view takes in the normally dry Kihei region and the pali side of the West Maui Mountains.

It was just a few months ago that Hawai'i was gripped by severe drought, exacerbated by persistent dry weather over a five-year period. Gov. Linda Lingle sought emergency money, water departments on O'ahu, Maui and the Big Island imposed water restrictions, and Big Island Mayor Harry Kim signed a declaration-of-drought emergency.

The state also endured one of its worst fire seasons, as thousands of acres of tinder-dry brush were scorched.

But after several episodes of wet weather in recent weeks, authorities across the state are cheering as drought conditions are easing, aquifers are recharging, groundwater levels are rising, reservoirs and streams are filling up, water consumption is dropping and the fire danger is subsiding.

Storms dropped up to a foot or more of rain over many areas in the island chain in late November, and December storms padded the rainfall statistics.

The latest drenching was Friday on Maui and O'ahu, with rainstorms flooding homes, closing roads, triggering mudslides, knocking out electrical power and overwhelming O'ahu's wastewater system.

The National Weather Service's December rainfall summary is not available yet, but the U.S. Geological Survey said Windward O'ahu's Kahana Stream hit its highest median flow for the month since recording began in 1958.

Even the drier Leeward areas benefited. Honolulu International Airport had only 7.86 inches of rain for the year through November — 51 percent of the normal amount — but in the past week alone it received more than 3.5 inches of rain.

Some experts are warning not to get too excited, though. The rain could be merely a blip during a greater, extended drought.

Stephen Gingerich, research hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said the recent precipitation served mainly to bolster yearly rainfall totals to average or near-average levels.

"This will obviously help — by how much it's hard to say," Gingerich said. "If it doesn't rain over the next two months, it's back to drought."

Neal Fujii, state drought coordinator with the Department of Land and Natural Resources, agreed.

"We're not out of the woods yet," he said. "The drought has improved, but you've got to keep it in perspective. If it doesn't rain in the next few months, we'll be back in the same situation we were in before."

The National Drought Mitigation Center's U.S. Drought Monitor still lists parts of Maui and Lana'i as abnormally dry, and West Hawai'i and West Moloka'” as suffering moderate drought. The good news is that the National Weather Service's National Climate Center is predicting drought improvement in those areas.

Rain in Hawai'i is more often than not gentle, the conduit of rainbows and sweet-smelling flowers. Too much rain at one time can produce the kind of disasters that occurred in late November: floods in low-lying areas, muddy run-off into the ocean.

Any kind of rain is a welcome sight at the Pearl Highlands 12 Theaters in Pearl City. Raul Sanchez, assistant manager, said the wet weather usually generates a significant increase in the number of movie-goers.

"What else are they going to do?" he said.

On Maui, a bus tour along the Hana Highway is enhanced by rain, because the waterfalls and pools gush in a spectacular display, said Uvette Sakamoto, supervisor of the Polynesian Adventure Tours Maui office.

For agriculture, the recent heavy rainfall is a mixed bag. Steve Gunn, deputy statistician with the Hawai'i Agricultural Statistics Service, said the rain restores pasture land, fills reservoirs and helps with some insect control. But too much rain, he said, can create mold problems, flood damage and muddy conditions that make harvesting difficult.

Tomatoes are one of the crops that can be ruined by too much rain. They can absorb too much water, causing the tomatoes to crack and burst open.

That's not the problem at Kawamata Farms in Waimea on the Big Island, which grows its vine-ripened tomatoes hydroponically, and has seen a 50 percent drop in production in the past two weeks. The problem is the lack of sunlight.

"You need three or four days of sunlight to make a difference," co-owner Garren Kawamata said. "One day helps, but it's not a drastic increase (in ripening)."

Contact Timothy Hurley at thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.