Hannemann said key city officials went directly to the Traffic Control Center yesterday where they could communicate directly with radio and TV stations about which buses were re-routed and to where.

He said he felt they learned from the problems of the Oct. 15 islandwide blackout triggered by two earthquakes. On that day, Hannemann said bureaucratic protocols kept officials going up the chain of command, which delayed important news from getting out fast.

"We were frustrated because we could have told people there was no tsunami threat," he said.

Hannemann said he felt good about yesterday's the state-city cooperation.

He said he called state officials early to offer crews from the city Department of Facilities Maintenance who could have helped with clearing the mud, plants and debris off Pali Highway.

But he said the state only asked for assistance from Honolulu police to help manage traffic around the areas where traffic was re-routed around the slide.

"We called them early on and said we can help," Hannemann said. "All they wanted was our HPD guys out there."

He said helped again this morning when the state closed the Kailua-bound lanes of Pali Highway and ran two lanes in a contra-flow to Honolulu to help ease traffic.

That worked so well that morning commuters saw a smooth traffic flow that brought them into town more quickly than on an average weekday. One Windward resident compared the traffic to a weekend day.

Early this afternoon, Hannemann said the city was checking on a report of mudslides on Round Top Drive.

"There appears to be some mudslides that affected homes," he said.

But city crews from the Department of Design and Construction found no homes directly affected.