Storm cut tornado-like swath
By Kevin Dayton, James Gonser and Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Staff Writers
It may or may not have been a tornado, but something powerful ripped through South Kona macadamia nut orchards and homes Friday night, flattening trees like a bulldozer and ripping off roofs.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
American Red Cross reported three homes were destroyed in upper Miloli'i near Huanui Road, and farmers said hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage was done to area macadamia orchards.
Heavy rains washed out large chunks of hillside below Dana Karasaki Riley's home in Kane'ohe, leaving just a few feet of space between the home and a drop of 30 feet.
About 2,500 trees were damaged in a 100-yard wide swath in the lower north corner of Macfarms of Hawai'i's 3,850-acre orchard, said Hilary Brown, general manager of Macfarms. The farm is about 35 miles south of Kailua, Kona.
"It just looked like about 10 D-9 bulldozers were lined up side-by-side and just driven through and just knocked everything down," he said.
Just days after the fourth bout of heavy weather in as many months ripped through the state, details are still emerging on the severity of the damage.
Gov. Linda Lingle is expected to sign a statewide disaster proclamation today that would provide low-interest loans to devastated homeowners and businesses, many of whom are still dealing with problems from the latest storm over the weekend.
The proclamation will allow homeowners to qualify for personal loans of up to $35,000 through the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism and businesses to qualify for loans of up to $75,000.
Anyone with information about the South Kona storm that could help the National Weather Service confirm whether the events were in fact tornadoes, and what the effects of those events were can call (808) 973-5270.
Yesterday, some farms were still under water on the Wai'anae Coast, homeowners in Kailua were dealing with the aftermath of rainfall-induced sewer backups and residents on Ahuahu Place in Kalihi Valley — one of the hardest-hit areas on O'ahu — said they were just happy to be alive.
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But it's what happened in South Kona that is still under study.
The National Weather Service is trying to confirm whether one or two tornadoes struck the southern portion of the Big Island late Friday or early Saturday, said Kevin Kodama, a weather service hydrologist. Cyclones are referred to as water spouts over the ocean, and tornadoes after they reach land.
Kodama said it appeared from radar that a water spout was on course to reach land in the Na'alehu area early Saturday. The weather service issued a tornado watch for southern portions of the Big Island after radar data indicated a tornado 14 miles southwest of Na'alehu at 12:06 Saturday morning.
However, radar data for the earlier storm damage at Honomalino in the Macfarms area is less conclusive, and Kodama said the weather service wants to speak to anyone with information about that event.
Just before midnight Friday, Anne and Dieter Losansky were awakened by a sound like gunshot, and discovered that the noise was the sound of their carport tarp being ripped off its frame. The Losanskys are neighbors of the Macfarms orchard.
"The wind was hugely loud," she said. "It was definitely a twisting kind of thing because the trees that were uprooted were in every direction, some were pointing makai, some were pointing mauka."
"It's incredible there was not one little piece of damage to the house itself or our workshop, but you could feel the pressure of the wind lifting, nipping at the roof," she said. "We are so fortunate."
Brown estimated the loss to Macfarms was about $500,000 from the 35 acres of trees that were flattened, not counting loss of the crop the trees were expected to produce this year.
Losansky said she does not have a damage estimate for her 58-acre property, and no damage estimates were available from Big Island Civil Defense or American Red Cross. However, the Losanskys' losses were expected to be substantial.
In Kalihi Valley yesterday, most of the mud and water that flooded Ahuahu Place was gone but the damage was evident. Remnants of several vehicles sat where they were left by a wall of floodwater that sent tons of mud and debris into about a dozen homes Friday evening after a drainage pipe above the homes failed under the nearly 10 inches of rain that the area received.
Scott Moura lost a boat and two cars. His garage is still filled with mud and rocks.
"I'm upset I lost my stuff," Moura said. "But not as much as I thought I would be. I'm trying to keep it in perspective. I thought I was going to die."
His neighbors, the Cabrera family, lost a van, their hollow-tile fence and part of their yard.
In Leeward O'ahu, Vicky Domingo said crops on her three-acre vegetable farm on 'Ili'ili Road, in Lualualei Valley, are still under water — destroyed. She has laid off four part-time workers and estimates her losses of marunggay (horseradish tree), saluyot (jute), bananas and pumpkin to be about $50,000.
At neighboring Paakea Farm several piglets drowned because the water rose before workers could get them out.
In Windward O'ahu, Tori Swoish, a Wanaao Street resident, still couldn't get over three days of sewer backups that left what appeared to be fecal matter and toilet paper flowing through the street and yards.
Two manhole covers began to overflow on Friday, and the raw sewage forced the city to close the road that afternoon. Sewage bubbled out until Sunday, Swoish said.
"Pedestrians were walking through it and cars were splashing the standing water," Swoish said, adding that no signs were posted. "It was disgusting."
City workers cleaned and disinfected the area surrounding her home on Sunday, but she couldn't say whether other homes were treated.
Overflowing manholes are a problem every time it rains hard, said Swoish.
Though the latest storm has passed, Dana Karasaki Riley and Larry Riley of Kane'ohe are still on edge.
A storm in January washed out four feet — or nearly two-thirds — of their back yard, leaving their sunroom just two and a half feet from a sheer cliff that drops 30 feet to He'eia Stream.
So last week when more heavy rain was predicted, the couple prepared for the worst, moving furniture out of the sunroom, draping a tarp over the remaining back yard to prevent rain from washing it away and diverting roof water to the front of their home.
Their efforts seemed to have paid off; no new material fell away even when the trickling stream turned to a raging torrent and rose about five feet. However, the heavy flow did wash away the tons of dirt, debris and rocks left at the foot of the cliff by the January storm, Karasaki Riley said.
"It's pretty scary," Karasaki Riley said. "We live on a cliff now. The engineers said ... it could go at any time. Any time it rains we're nervous."
