Posted on: Thursday, March 24, 2005
Maui flood-warning plan advances
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui Bureau
The National Park Service is moving forward with a plan to install a flood-warning system for Kipahulu's Palikea Stream, where visitors have died in flash floods in recent years.
The federal agency this week began soliciting proposals for a high-tech computerized system that would employ a series of rain and stream gauges to transmit real-time hydrologic and meteorological data to the Kipahulu Ranger Station.
Haleakala National Park Superintendent Don Reeser said the project will undergo testing for a year to determine how useful it is.
About 600,000 visitors each year drive the winding road to the remote East Maui district of the national park, where Palikea Stream descends through the Kipahulu Valley to meet the sea in a picturesque string of pools at 'Ohe'o, sometimes known as the Seven Sacred Pools.
Two years ago, a Kentucky man and his 8-year-old daughter were swept to their deaths by a flash flood on the stream. Last year, a U.S. District Court judge ordered the federal government to pay $2.3 million in the drowning of a New York City woman who was pushed out to sea by 'Ohe'o floodwaters three years ago.
Reeser said the park recently installed various signs in the 'Ohe'o area warning of the dangers of flash flooding, slippery rocks and high waters. But, he said, the agency is hoping to go a step further with an experimental system recommended by a San Diego-based consultant last year.
Just about the only way rangers know if a flash flood is possible is by gazing at the mountain to see if there are any threatening clouds. But the clouds aren't always visible. It's not unusual for it to be sunny at sea level and storming at the top of the valley seven miles away without anyone knowing below, Reeser said.
The proposed flood-warning system would include three stream gauges and seven automatic rain gauges placed throughout the valley, from the 9,000-foot Haleakala Crater to the Pools of 'Ohe'o near the shore. A radio data repeater would continuously send the gauges' hydrological and meteorological information to a computerized base station at the ranger station.
If the system works, it would allow the rangers to see what's happening in the watershed higher up the mountain slopes, giving them time to warn visitors if necessary.
The system could cost $50,000 or more and would be paid for by entrance-fee collections, Reeser said.
There have been at least 27 deaths in Hawai'i because of flash flooding between 1970 and 2001.
Floods and flash floods are the No. 1 weather-related killer in the United States, according to the National Weather Service.
Reach Timothy Hurley at thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.
