KILAUEA, Kaua'i — At a town hall meeting yesterday with Gov. Linda Lingle, many of Kauai's North Shore residents wanted to know one thing: Who was responsible for the Kaloko Reservoir's breach.

More than 250 people gathered at the Kilauea Neighborhood Center, eager for information from the governor and other officials in wake of Kaua'i's worst disaster since Hurricane Iniki.

Without assigning blame, Lingle made it clear that someone would be held responsible.

Just one state employee and a part-time clerk work on inspecting the 60 privately owned reservoirs and dams and the 13 publicly held facilities on Kaua'i, she said. She could not answer when the last time the Kaloko reservoir was inspected.

"Under Hawai'i state law, it is very clear that (for) dams and reservoirs on private property, maintenance is the responsibility of the landowner," she said, standing near a basketball hoop in the center's gymnasium.

"Are the 60 (dams) monitored on a full-time basis? They are not. That does not absolve the landowner from maintaining it."

The state attorney general's office began gathering information and looking into the dam breach starting yesterday, Lingle said, adding she did not know if the office had opened a formal criminal probe.

During the 30-minute question-and-answer session, Kaua'i Mayor Bryan Baptiste and Lingle also fielded questions about government relief and when roads would open.

But for every question answered, more were raised.

North Shore resident Bryce Toney was frustrated with the flow of information.

Grocery stores on the Hanalei side of Wailapa Stream were nearly out of bread, milk and meat, he said, and several gas stations had shut off their pumps. With no way in or out of the North Shore, Toney's business also was shut down. He couldn't pick up the guests who come for his fitness-conscious vacations.

"It's hard to get actual facts," said Toney as he sat waiting for Lingle to begin the meeting. "I had guests come in today and we couldn't pick them up. And there is no gas and food is running out."

Vera Vierra, a 36-year-old registered nurse who works at Wilcox Memorial Hospital, had heard from co-workers that the hospital was short of nurses because so many were trapped on the North Shore. She said seven lives already have been lost and she doesn't want to risk anymore because she and other nurses can't make it to work.

"I want to know how I'm going to get to work," she said, as her children played outside the gym. "It's sad, we're losing seven people. I just want to know when we're going to be able to get to the other side."

State Department of Transportation workers had a single contra-flow lane of Kuhio Highway open by late yesterday afternoon but traffic was crawling with the continuing rain.

Reis Paluso, a 24-year-old bartender and waiter, also had problems separating fact from fiction during the disaster. That, and he couldn't make it to work.

"I just want to see what the situation is," he said yesterday.

After touching down in Lihu'e shortly after 6:30 a.m., Lingle boarded a National Guard Black Hawk and toured the flood-ravaged area for about an hour before flying to Kilauea to meet with residents.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.