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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 7:58 p.m., Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Kamehameha Highway near Kipapa reopened

Advertiser Staff

Police have reopened Kamehameha Highway near Kipapa bridge after flooding prompted officials to close it.

The highway was closed in both directions shortly before 6 tonight near Kipapa bridge in the Mililani and Waipio area because of a large volume of water pouring onto the roadway.

The city Department of Emergency Management said there has been ditch flooding in the area of Kipapa Gulch and Kamehameha Highway near Waipio.

John Cummings, a spokesman with the city Department of Emergency Management, said a rainstorm hovered over the Kipapa area this afternoon, and that water that accumulated uphill on Castle and Cooke property poured through a neighborhood of 12 homes on the mauka and Waipio side of the bridge.

"The water was about knee-deep coming down the mountain. It was pretty intense," said Nichole Dau, who lives in the Kipapa Gulch Estates neighborhood.

No water came into the homes, she said.

"It just affected our yards," Dau said, adding that rainwater also poured through her father's garage.

Dau said Kamehameha Highway was still closed in the area in both directions at 7:40 p.m.

Cummings said he heard reports that the rainwater caused a minor landslide on Kamehameha Highway.

Dau said an irrigation ditch broke on the Castle and Cooke property on Dec. 11, and it hasn't been repaired.

Cummings said Castle and Cooke sent an engineer up to the property to take a look at the rainwater buildup this afternoon.

"Right now, as far as I can see, the situation is abating because the weather is clearing," Cummings said. "We're monitoring the flooding situation in that area."

O'ahu had been under a flood advisory until 6:45 p.m., the National Weather Service said.

At 5:30 p.m., weather radar showed heavy rain between Pearl City and Waiahole, the weather service said. The rain was moving northeast.

A flood advisory was extended for Maui County until 10:15 p.m.

At 5:42 p.m., radar showed heavy rain just west of Hamoa, or about 27 miles southeast of Kahului. The area of heavy rain was nearly stationary.

The stream gauge ay 'Oheo Gulch has risen to nearly 5 feet and may continue to rise as heavy rainfall continues upstream, the weather service said.