Boulder evacuees return home, but remain wary
By Will Hoover and Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Staff Writers
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
Most of the people who were evacuated from Akowai Road after a boulder bounced down a steep mountain slope and struck a house Thursday night were allowed to return home late yesterday.
A boulder that crashed down the hillside still lay next to a home at 87-1428M Akowai Road in Nanakuli yesterday.
But state geologists and representatives of a private firm, Earth Tech, planned to return to the area in Nana-
kuli today to assess the situation further, said Deborah Ward, spokeswoman for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Part of the investigation will be to determine who owns the property where the boulder originated, she said.
No one was hurt in the incident, and only the residents of the home struck by the boulder were advised to stay away, Ward said.
For most of the 39 area residents who were evacuated after the boulder came crashing down, that decision seemed to address the big question — whether it was likely more rocks would follow the whopper that came down about 11 p.m. Thursday.
But some residents were wary before receiving clearance to go back home yesterday afternoon.
Belinda Anderson, who lives at 87-1428 B Akowai, said she had no choice but to take her chances at home.
"Yeah, I am worried about boulders coming down. But I have nowhere else to go," she said. "And this is home."
The residents of 87-1428 Akowai live in a compound of 11 homes, all identified by the same number but different letters, at the base of a steep, rocky ridge between Nanakuli and Ma'ili.
For those who laid eyes on the boulder that punched its way into the back side of 87-1428M Akowai, the mystery was why the thing didn't keep moving.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
From the looks of it, the rock — roughly the size of a Jeep — easily could have blasted through the house and kept on going.
A boulder that crashed down the hillside still lay next to a home at 87-1428M Akowai Road in Nanakuli yesterday.
Roger Dainard, an enforcement officer with the DLNR posted at the site yesterday to keep folks a safe distance away, said he didn't consider the area safe.
"They couldn't pay me to live here, let alone pay rent," Dainard said, peering up the slope. "It's Russian roulette living here, that's all it is.
"The Wai'anae Mountain Range is crumbling. And this is just the start of a hundred years of this. What can they do about it? Nothing. What can they do to nature? Look at all those rocks up there at the top of the ridge. Everything sitting up there is a danger."
Stephanie and Arthur Martin live two homes from where the boulder landed, at 87-1428H Akowai. While some of the evacuated residents stayed with friends and relatives, the Martins were among those given lodging at the Plaza Hotel near the airport Thursday night.
Yesterday afternoon, they and Anderson were among several who returned to the area to check on their belongings.
Stephanie Martin, who was at home with her husband, three teenage children and a 3-day-old granddaughter when they heard the boulder's crash-landing, said she had no desire to spend another night at home.
"I'm very leery of staying here," she said. "Especially with the baby. If the rains bring bigger rocks down, these houses aren't going to hold them back. And these are old houses, too."
Martin said she would prefer to spend the night camping at Ulehawa Beach Park across Farrington Highway.
A short time later, Juan and Donna Navarro, who live at the M residence hit by the boulder, drove up to assess the situation. The couple said they were too upset to talk about the incident.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
"We're just here to see if we can come home," said Juan Navarro. Dainard explained that it was too soon for him to let any residents return.
The Nanakuli complex where the boulder slid into a house (center) contains 11 residences below a steep, rocky ridge.
However, Audrey Bartholomew, 73, who lives at the G residence, somehow managed to evade authorities earlier in the day and slip into her house.
"I'm sneaking home," she said after taking a bus from the Plaza Hotel back to Akowai Road and walking up to her house. "I'm not scared at all about boulders. Not at all. There's no way boulders could hit all these homes.
"If the police found me here, they'd make me leave. But I'd tell them they have to leave — because I've got to take care of my dog, Eyes. She's a 128-pound Rottweiler."
Reach Will Hoover at 525-8038 or whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.
