Storm-damaged state faces weekend of same
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Thunderstorms like those that lit up Hawai'i skies Thursday night are possible through Monday, the National Weather Service said.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
And while Thursday night's impressive storms didn't last long — they began at 10:30 p.m. and were over by 1 a.m. — damage was reported on O'ahu, Maui and the Big Island.
Randy Ragonjan checks out a tree that fell on his neighbor's home at 94-1131 Eleu St. in Village Park. Winds also felled utility poles across the Islands Thursday night.
There were landslides, power failures, fallen trees, road closures and a discharge of wastewater into Lake Wilson that wasn't fully treated.
A flood watch was in effect for the entire state yesterday and was expected to be extended until 4 this morning.
The unstable air mass that brought the storm will move slowly over the state, with southerly winds bringing "fresh supplies of tropical moisture," the weather service said.
"It will be gray like this," lead forecaster Tim Craig said yesterday morning. "There is still a chance of heavy showers and thundershowers. The conditions have not changed — all of the ingredients are there. It is a very unstable atmosphere."
The forecast prompted the cancellation of the city's Sunset on the Beach this weekend.
Southerly gusts of wind associated with the thunderstorms ranged from 40 mph to 64 mph. They toppled utility poles along Kunia Road, prompting police to close it in both directions from 11:23 p.m. Thursday until 5:30 p.m. yesterday, said Hawaiian Electric Co. spokeswoman Lynne Unemori. Three of the poles were owned jointly by HECO and Verizon Hawai'i, which lost 10 poles of its own.
Also, Kaukonahua Road from Wilikina Drive to Thomson's Corner will be closed from 8:30 a.m to 4 p.m. today so Verizon crews can replace utility poles that fell during last week's storms. The work will be near the Poamoho Experiment Station, and motorists will be detoured to Kamehameha Highway.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
In Waimanalo, a large ironwood tree near the McDonald's end of the polo fields fell onto HECO wires, bringing down a utility pole at about 12:50 a.m. yesterday, Unemori said. Police closed Kalaniana'ole Highway in both directions, reopening one lane around 8 a.m.
Repair crews from Verizon and Hawaiian Electric Co. were busy yesterday, restoring more than a dozen utility poles and lines they own on Kunia Road. The road was closed in both directions from 11:23 p.m. Thursday until 5:30 p.m. yesterday.
A downed utility pole on Kamehameha Highway in Ka'a'awa cut power to 1,300 customers at 12:55 a.m. and blocked traffic. Power was restored at 5:30 a.m., and the highway reopened not long after.
Unemori said 18 customers lost power in the Kunia area until 4 a.m., when service was restored to all but five. As of last night, utility officials said power had been restored across O'ahu.
Lightning was blamed for many temporary power failures.
A 15-minute loss of power at 11:40 p.m. at the Wahiawa Wastewater Treatment Plant accidentally sent 29,670 gallons of partially treated wastewater into Lake Wilson. Warning signs were posted on the lake, and water samples were being taken.
Lightning also stabbed the driveway of Julia Apffel's Palolo home about 11:30 p.m. Thursday night. She was sleeping, but her roommate saw the strike 10 feet away, Apffel said.
"It was really scary, the loudest thing I ever heard," she said. "The whole house shook. I actually felt it in my fillings. An electric zap."
Paul Stuart, manager of Garst Seed Co.'s research station in Kunia, could not immediately assess damage to his seed corn and soy bean fields yesterday because of the road closure. Stuart got permission from a neighboring farmer, Larry Jefts, to use his farm roads to access the Garst fields.
"We had heavy rains and high winds," Stuart said, "but the damage to our (corn) crop is minimal."
Not far from the lookout area on Diamond Head Road, a section of the crater dumped another small landslide on the road, said Larry Leopardi, director of the city's Department of Road Maintenance. It is the third time since last fall that rain sent debris tumbling in the area, he said.
Crews cleaned up the debris before sunrise, but the forecast means they are on the road checking potential trouble sites, Leopardi said.
"We have bad weather coming," he said. "Our crews are at all of our choke points, trying to keep our drainage ways open. We have trees down and we are trying to stay ahead of it. Hopefully, we won't get hit too hard."
So far, the rain-related debris is being considered a nuisance, said Peter Hirai, plans and operations officer for O'ahu Civil Defense.
"The National Weather Service warned us that because of the water we had recently, that another rainfall might produce a lot of runoff," Hirai said. "Last night we had a good amount. There was a river in front of my house in Makiki. If this keeps up, we will have a lot of runoff coming down from everywhere."
Sok Kim, assistant manager of the Kunia Store, had more on his mind yesterday than closure of Kunia Road from Anonui Street in Royal Kunia to Schofield Barracks because of downed trees and utility poles.
"Plenty damage," Kim said as he eyed the store ceiling, leaking in a dozen places. Kim placed newspapers on the concrete floor to sop up water. High winds and intense rains Thursday night had blown the satellite dish off the roof.
"No more TV," he said.
Out on the road, closed since 11 p.m. Thursday, crews for Hawaiian Electric Co. and Verizon were trying to erect more than a dozen utility poles — 10 telephone poles on the west side of the two-lane highway and three high-voltage power poles across the road.
In an adjacent Del Monte pineapple field, a Ford SUV was sinking axle-deep in mud that had been a dirt path. The vehicle had to be rescued with a heavy-duty forklift.
Veteran Civil Defense workers Bill Leong and Joe Kugler, stationed at the "Road Closed" sign near the Kunia Store, were trying to keep things in perspective. The Thursday rains were bad, they agreed. But they've seen worse: the Jan. 14 windstorm, for example.
"Those were a lot worse," Leong said. "This is a dozen poles down. There were 126 poles and one ironwood tree down on Kau-konahua Road alone last week."
"And this is one road," Kugler added. "Last week, one whole side of the island was shut down."
Over Maui, the thunderstorms boomed after midnight, dropping nearly 4 inches of rain in 'Ulupalakua in a 12-hour period ending at 8:45 a.m. yesterday. Other rainfall totals include 1.4 inches for Wailuku, 1.7 inches at Lahainaluna and a little more than 2 inches in Kula and Pukalani.
Lightning strikes caused power failures in the Kihei, Wailea, Kula and Mahinahina areas. Only a few pockets remained without electricity at daybreak, according to Maui Electric Co.
Minor landslides closed the pali area of Honoapi'ilani Highway, which connects Lahaina to the rest of the island, for three hours starting at 2:20 a.m. while heavy equipment cleared the debris that washed down the mountainside.
A portion of heavily traveled Wailea Alanui Road in the luxury Wailea resort collapsed at 10:30 a.m. yesterday when a drain culvert under the road failed because of heavy runoff. County officials said it would take two weeks to restore the road.
The collapse happened between the Grand Wailea Resort & Spa's service entrance and the Wailea beach access. Traffic on Wailea Alanui Road to and from the Four Seasons Resort, Makena, and points farther south is being routed to Kaukahi Street, Kalai Wa'a Drive and Wailea Ike Drive.
Flooding also occurred on South Kihei Road.
On the Big Island, lightning tripped open a 69-kilovolt transmission line in the Kulani area at 9:30 a.m. yesterday, causing blackouts that affected 13,800 customers around the island. Power was restored about a half hour later, said Hawai'i Electric Light Co. spokesman Jay Ignacio.
Thunderstorms hit the Big Island overnight, causing scattered power failures. The County Building in Hilo was without power at 9:30 a.m.
The American Red Cross was prepared to open a shelter yesterday afternoon at the Pahala Community Center because of road closures in Wood Valley.
Assistant Civil Defense administrator Lanny Nakano said two trees fell on Highway 11 near Ho'okena about 6:30 a.m., blocking traffic and damaging electrical lines. One lane of traffic was reopened at 8 a.m. and the entire road opened at 8:15 a.m.
Some parts of the island had heavy rain, and Nakano said authorities were particularly concerned about flooding in parts of Ka'u. Kapapala Ranch had 5.32 inches and nearby Pahala had 4.45 inches of rain in the 12 hours ending at 8:45 a.m. Other parts of the island had fractions of those amounts.
Advertiser staff writers Will Hoover, Rod Ohira, Christie Wilson, Jan TenBruggencate and Curtis Lum contributed to this report. Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8012.
