"We’ve got nothing but trouble," said Assistant Fire Chief Lloyd Narimatsu. "We’ve got flooding going on all over this place."

Residents in four homes in the Kaumana area and elsewhere in Hilo called county officials for help starting about 9 this morning, and "We’ve got a company running around here trying to help them out with portable pumps," Narimatsu said.

"We’re just trying to help them out in whatever way we can," he said. Crews with the county Department of Public Works also were trying to assist the homeowners, he said.

The damage was caused by rainfall washing over ground that already was soaked by heavy rains the day before. "It’s saturated, totally saturated," Narimatsu said.

Kamehameha Highway around Hilo bay was closed as water from 'Alenaio Stream poured across the soccer fields near the mouth of the stream and flooded the highway, Narimatsu said.

Ken Inouye, owner of Bayside Chevron, said the closed highway and the rising water forced him to close for the day.

"The water hasn’t come through the station yet, but the tank portion and the pump portion, they’re covered with water," Inouye said. One of his worries was that the water could seep through a faulty seal into a fuel tank, forcing him to pump out the tank.

Flooding has forced the station to close "at least 10 times" in the last 10 years, Inouye said.

A state highways spokesman said Kohala Mountain Road remained closed from the 11-mile marker to the 19-mile marker after heavy rains yesterday washed out two culverts.