Power out for many today

By Mike Gordon and Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writers

Firefighters remove dislodged roofing material from Betty Burton's home on Ku'ulei Road in Kailua after fierce winds peeled off the metal strips. "It sounded like thunder," said Burton, who was home during yesterday's windstorm. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Gusts as high as 92 mph raked the state with a roof-shaking vengeance, snapping dozens of trees as well as utility poles, closing roads and causing power failures in all counties.

Castle and Kaiser High, Kailua Intermediate and Koko Head, Kamiloiki and Haha'ione Elementary schools will be closed today because of wind damage or loss of power. Nine O'ahu schools were closed yesterday.

Hawaiian Electric Co. spokesman Jose Dizon said 11,000 customers from Kuli'ou'ou to Hawai'i Kai would still have no electricity today. They were among nearly 69,000 HECO customers who lost power at some point yesterday.

Electricity to East Honolulu went out at 6:25 p.m. when the second of two 46-kilovolt transmission lines lost power. Dizon said the only way to get to the troubled lines was by helicopter, but HECO workers were unable to reach the area because of windy conditions and darkness.

HECO crews worked throughout the day to restore power to most of the island. As of 9:35 last night, 3,000 customers in Wahiawa, Waimanalo, Waialua and Waimea remained in the dark.

Firefighters responded to more than 110 calls of damaged roofs and another 30 calls for electrical hazards caused by the winds, said Fire Department Capt. Kenison Tejada.

Today's forecast is for clear to partly cloudy skies and little wind. As for surf, the third of three large swells tracked since last week was due to arrive late today with wave faces of 25 to 35 feet on the North Shore, the National Weather Service said.

A high-surf warning was issued for the north and west shores everywhere except the Big Island, where a high-surf advisory was posted instead.

There were no reports of serious injuries yesterday.

The winds came from the south, instead of the normal trade-wind pattern. Because of this, they would accelerate as they zoomed over mountain ridges and down into windward areas.

As many as 20 utility poles snapped along Kamehameha Highway just outside Wahiawa and forced police to close the roadway from Helemano to the Hale'iwa Bypass and Kaukonahua Road for hours. At 5 p.m., Hale'iwa-bound motorists were allowed to travel on Kamehameha Highway; Kaukonahua Road was opened in both directions.

Privately contracted workers clear away debris on Waialua Beach Road at its intersection with Hale'iwa Beach Road while, in the rear, a Hawaiian Electric Co. crew makes repairs to utility poles. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

"Hey, I'll take this. It's still paradise," said Tom Sperandeo of Turtle Bay, one of hundreds of motorists stuck at the pineapple specimen garden near Wahiawa. "Can you imagine being stuck in a blizzard in Iowa right now?"

Tom Gordon, a filmmaker who lives on a 65-foot sailboat in Kane'ohe Bay, was stunned yesterday morning when he checked the wind gauge on his boat.

It read 92 mph.

Before the morning was over, he'd also see a 100-foot-tall waterspout and get pinged by hail.

"The hailstones were only about three times the size of a BB, but incredibly intense," he said. "And, boy, did they sting!

"It just whited out. I couldn't even see the length of the boat."

The wind roared through Windward O'ahu, becoming louder and stronger, snapping branches from trees and rocketing objects across roadways.

Fallen trees and power poles that were threatening to topple over closed several roads, including Kane'ohe Bay Drive by Castle High School, Kalaniana'ole Highway near Keolu Drive and William Henry Road.

Trees were uprooted in parks, yards and along highways. A street sign flew across Kawailoa Road like a Frisbee, skimming under a Jeep Cherokee.

Traffic lights were out at major intersections and police directed drivers in Kane'ohe, Kailua and Waimanalo.

In Waimanalo people placed large X's of tape across picture windows, a practice usually reserved for when a hurricane is about to hit the Islands.

A tall tree hangs precariously across utility lines on Kalaniana'ole Highway fronting Waimanalo Bay Park. Police closed the roadway. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

And roofing material was everywhere. One gust ripped a large piece of the roofing material from a new addition above a two-car carport and propelled it across four lanes of Keolu Drive in Kailua.

At another Keolu Drive location, firefighters from the Kailua Station were securing another roof and picking up debris torn from the home of Terry Conradt.

Conradt called for help when she heard her roof banging and saw pieces flying in the wind. "I didn't want it hitting cars that are passing by. I don't want anyone getting hurt," she said.

Firefighter Steve Granato said that the Kailua firefighters had been securing roofs in Kailua all morning and that the failing roofs were not limited to any one type.

"It's the way the wind is hitting the roof," Granato said. "It's all different constructions all over Kailua we've been having problems with."

Aluminum roofing from Betty Burton's home on Ku'ulei Road littered her front yard. The wind spread Styrofoam from under layer sheeting into neighbors' hedges.

"It sounded like thunder all over, and I looked out and pieces were hanging everywhere," Burton said.

Firefighters from Kuakini Fire Station gathered up more than a dozen pieces of aluminum strips and stacked them in a secure section of the yard. They also re-inforced the edges to prevent the rest of the roof from blowing off, said Capt. Peter Finnegan.

Just a block away, strips of roofing peeled off C Building at Kailua Intermediate School, posing a danger to students as it whipped off and landed in the corridor of the adjacent building, said Lorraine Henderson, school principal.

Henderson said there were no injuries or panic and students left in an orderly manner. She credits a school crisis plan and her staff.

"It's one thing to have something in place, but it takes the team to implement it," she said.

The winds didn't stop golfers from keeping their appointed tee-time at Olomana Golf Links in Waimanalo, but the rain finally drove them indoors after a 17-hole round.

Casey Nakama, of Kamehameha Heights, said it was blowing so hard, his group had to stop and wait for gusts to pass.

"It got kind of dangerous," Nakama said. "Everything would come flying. Golfers are borderline retarded."

Advertiser staffers Eloise Aguiar, Karen Blakeman, Kevin Dayton, Will Hoover, Jan TenBruggencate, Christie Wilson and Andy Yamaguchi contributed to this report.